


Sacchrine

by Skyrim_Deathbell



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Abused Chara (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Underswap (Undertale), Angst with a Happy Ending, Chara Is Frisk's Mother, Chara Is Thirteen, Chara Is Young, Child Neglect, F/F, F/M, Gaster IS Sans's and Papyrus's Dad, Hence The Child Neglect Tag, Papyrus Is Fifteen, Papyrus Is His Teens, Probably Could Put More Here But IDK what, Protective Chara (Undertale), Protective Papyrus (Undertale), Sans And Frisk Are Brats, Sans Is A Babybones, Teen Pregnancy, Toriel and Asgore Adopt Both Of Them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:47:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 54
Words: 73,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24906301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyrim_Deathbell/pseuds/Skyrim_Deathbell
Summary: Thirteen year old Chara flees from a abusive situation , hoping to provide a better life for herself and her unborn baby. Even if that life is among monsters.
Relationships: Alphys/Undyne (Undertale), Asgore Dreemurr/Toriel, Chara/Papyrus (Undertale), Frisk/Sans (Undertale)
Comments: 176
Kudos: 136





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I have been feeling Nostalgia as of late, inspiration arose this afternoon so here is this piece.

She stood there, before her the great gaping crater of Mount Ebott sat. There were legends of horrid beasts who awaited inside to devour any stray travelers. She had never known if that particular legend held any truth ,but her late grandfather in contrast to it always stated this was a lie. He would claim that those who were entrap in the mountain were pure and kinder than any person you would ever encounter. The last part was in particular true to Chara. She had experienced the worst of humanity ever since they came and stole her away from her family, killing them in the process. 

Her thoughts ended as she heard the shouting of the hostile men following closely behind her :searching. In her arms she cradled her stomach. A new life dwelled within the confines of her body. Despite her initial distaste for the life that now bloomed inside her , Chara could never subject another to what she had been forced to. Which is why she cradled her stomach and took the plunge, entering the endless abyss of the mouth of the mountain. 

As she descended down the darkness , air flying pass her as if to use her momentum to escape the void. Her thoughts ranged from her deceased family to the new life that she was probably going to end. If they both survived this fall, Chara would name her baby Frisk. Because you can't spell Frisk without using the word risk. 

Chara could not remember most of the plummet , but when she awoken she was very surprised to say the least. No broken bones ,and no real obvious signs that Frisk was harmed. Not that Chara really knew what to look for. Chara got up hesitant because of the less illuminated areas. As she made her way out of a pristine archway she could hear every noise. As she stumbled forward threw the poorly lit areas ,she happened upon a small circle lit by sunlight. Making her way towards it she stumbled upon her first monster. 

“Hello child,” a goat monster said approaching, he was much taller than a human man could ever hope to be. As he approached the brighter area Chara could make out more characteristics. Despite being a goat he had long blonde hair and a matching beard as well as a pair of dark purple eyes, which paired nicely with cascading purple robes. “My name is Asgore welcome to the ruins I-,” Asgore paused for a moment , a confused look appeared on his face. “My child , I am sorry if this sounds rude, but how old are you...?” 

“I am thirteen....,” Chara cautiously answered back ,unsure on how it may effect everything. A more blatant look of shock mixed with horror appeared on the goat monsters face. He seemed to be a loss for words. 

“Do you know about your ...condition...?” Asgore asked. 

“Yes . It is the reason why I am here....” Chara did not really see her first meeting with a monster going like this. Sure they might have found out eventually that she was expecting, but she wore a baggy sweater to ensure that the somewhat noticeable bump was hidden for a while. Trying to maintain a slight facade of politeness to hid her inner panic she said : “My name is Chara, I plan on naming them Frisk.”.

“My child , I mean Chara , I know this may sound a bit strange but I would like for you to follow me back to my home. Me and my wife Toriel , may be able to help you with Frisk. I do not know the circumstances but we maybe able to help you as well.” 

Without much of a choice Chara decided to agree ,and followed Asgore to his home in the Ruins.


	2. Brine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toriel and Asriel meet Chara

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all, this chapter may include stuff that may upset some people, I tried to keep it brief. I do not own anything except the plot.

As Asgore guided her through the maze full of wonderful contraptions known as puzzles. Chara let her mind wonder. She wondered if she truly made the right choice for her baby. There may have been no living family left to embrace her and Frisk, and she may have been pursued for the rest of her life ,but maybe she could have found a way. She decided not to ask if there had been any others before her. If there were any she wouldn't have wanted to know their fate. Instead opting to believe that Asgore was truly nice, if this wasn't the case at least she wouldn't have known. 

Eventually the puzzles were complete. There at the end of the cavern a quaint but cozy house sat. Asgore smiled softly: “My child , inside there is my wife Toriel. Toriel is one of the kinder monsters , but she may be weary of you at first... please wait here while I go and make sure she is ready for your introduction.” With these words said Asgore entered the house. 

Not too long later, not that Chara really minded, Asgore exited the house. This time he was hand-linked with a similar looking female goat monster, she possessed a slightly more feminine stature despite her lack of hair. She had crimson red eyes, she seemed to notice something about Chara that sent a once stern look into a dismay panic. Seeming to realize how much she was projecting onto her face she schooled her face into a much kinder albeit still seemingly shock face. 

“Howdy , would you like a cup of tea...? I did not realize that Gori left you out here for this long. Please come into the house,” Toriel guided Chara into the house. Chara followed Toriel and Asgore into a small kitchen, pulling out a large chair for Chara he gestured for her to sit upon it. Chara did as they requested. “Here have a cup of buttercup tea, they are some of our favorites....,” Toriel put on a contemplative face on as if pondering her next words. 

“Asgore said that you were only thirteen?” Toriel posed the question, as if wanting to confirm something. 

“Yes, I am” Chara answered looking into the cup of tea. Although the pregnancy had not been her choice, Chara still felt a lot of shame about it. Unbeknownst to her Asgore and Toriel exchanged a soft concern look. 

“Did your family known about your child...?” Toriel mentally cringed as she asked another question. Although she had believed Asgore about the pregnant human, she knew that the king possessed a much more ...gentle... disposition towards them. It would not be the first time a human had lied to the king. But once she had glanced at Chara, she knew the king had not been fooled again. 

“...My family is dead, the people who did this to me …...” Chara choked , she was having a hard time squeezing the words out of her throat as she thought back to that night. The night her entire family died, the night she saw them break her grandfather's skull. The night they violated her. As she thought of the gruesome night , she thought of Frisk and mentally chastised herself. She had to be strong for Frisk. 

A furry hand grasping her own broke her out of her thoughts : “It is OK my child, those who did this to you will never touch you or them again...I promise you,” Toriel genuflected down in front of her a kind look emanating from her face. “If you want , me and my husband could take you and her on as our own... There has never been a human down here before, so it is unpredictable on how the other monsters would react to you... but as the daughter of the King and Queen they would likely not be hostile towards you...” Toriel said. 

Chara took a moment to process what Toriel had just said. She was the first human to fall down here , so that meant that no one was eaten by the monsters. At least not yet. There was also the fact that Chara found out that they were the rulers of the monsters. Although there were still plenty of blanks for Chara left to figure out, Chara had made her decision regarding this. Smiling at Toriel she said: “ I accept your offer”. 

Toriel smiled and embraced her, and Asgore approached to join in on the hug. Chara closed her eyes and enjoyed the contact, it had been a while since she had experienced a friendly touch by someone who did not want to hurt her. A few moments later Asgore and Toriel receded. 

“Our son Asriel will be home soon. He is two years younger than you , but he is a very kind child. He has been wanting siblings for a while.” Not too long after Asgore stated this, the sound of a door opening sounded throughout the home. Oddly enough it sounded like it came from beneath the floorboards of the kitchen.

“MOM ,DAD I'm home!” A small similar looking goat boy entered the kitchen. A strap of a backpack hung lazily on his left shoulder, and he wore no shoes. Once his eyes made contact with Chara they exploded. One finger from his claw white paw staggered as he pointed at her: “Is that a-” he blinked a few times, hands shooting towards if face as if to wipe the illusion of a dream from his eyes. As he did this, Asgore stepped forward. 

“Asriel... This is a human. Her name is Chara. We decided that we would take her in as your sister,” Asgore and Toriel seemed to be at a loss of words on how to explain this to Asriel. It did not seemed to matter as much as Asriel exploded forwarded and embraced Chara in a unexpected hug. At first Chara flinched ,but then melted into the hug. It seemed that she would be accepted and loved here at least by the royal family.


	3. Capers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This feels like more of a filler chapter to demonstrate the goat's reception of Chara. Next chapter will be much more interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi ,   
> Thank you for all the support you have been sending my way. It is deeply appreciated, I was initially somewhat nervous to upload this. I swear things are going to get more interesting this upcoming chapter, this is kind of just a base chapter, as it explains more key concepts present in the game here in this fanfic. Again nothing belongs to me. Enjoy~

It had been about three days since Chara had met the Dreamurr family and officially became a Dreamurr. Asriel had been much more receptive to her than she had originally thought he was going to be . Although he did not seem to really understand how pregnancy really worked with humans at first , he seemed to be similarly aghast after a closed discussion with Toriel and Asgore. He seemed to dote on Chara a lot , constantly appearing with Asgore's famous Golden flower tea, or Toriel's Butterscotch cinnamon pie. He would also constantly ask to feel her stomach, which was only slightly showing in some of the new clothes that Asgore had crafted for her.

“You know you probably won't be able to feel them for a while,” She stated glancing out the window towards the ruins. 

“I know, but I can feel their soul reacting to my hand...” he said eagerly glancing up at her from a slightly bent position. 

“You can see their soul...?” Chara asked slightly confused , sure she had heard talk about monster souls and other things, but she had no idea that the concept applied to humans. 

“Yeah. Mom and Dad didn't tell you. They said that they saw their soul when they first found you in the ruins,” Asriel explained. Chara had many questions ,but then it dawn on her what exactly Asriel had said. 

“We have souls?” Chara asked. While she had grown up in a poor but religious household ,and often participated in rituals that would save her soul. She did not know that souls was a tangible object. 

“Would you like to see you souls?” Asriel offered excitably. 

“If it doesn't hurt , then yes.” Chara answered. Without any further warning Asriel pulled the souls of her body. Gleaming red souls appeared to be pulled from her chest , shocked Chara gasped and try to put it back in her chest. It looked just like a heart. As if summoned by the very presence of the souls, Asgore and Toriel rushed into the room. 

“Asriel , put the souls away now !” Toriel demanded. In response Asriel quickly did as his mother commanded him. Asgore quickly clamored to Chara's side, examining her for any sign of visible injury. 

“I'm sorry mom, she wanted to know what her soul looked like. I didn't harm her or anything...”Asriel tried to explain. Chara felt guilty that he was getting into trouble for something that she had requested. As she went to intercede Toriel put on a loving face. Squatting down to the height of her kid the goat mother explained why she got so worry. 

“We haven't told much to Chara regarding her or Frisk's souls, it can be a very scary experience for a human to see their soul. It is connected to their body, and anything done to the soul often reflects on them,” Toriel said while patting Asriel on the head gently.

“It is probably time we show Chara how to react around monsters, after all there are those who would use a child to further there own goals”. Asgore added . Nodding in agreement Toriel rose to her normal height and gestured for her children to follow her. Across the ruins they passed several familiar traps and puzzles. Eventually they made their way to a familiar room , where a dummy sat untouched since Chara last saw it. 

“ When the humans cast us down below mount Ebott , they out a special condition in place. It would take seven humans to breach the barrier that kept us locked in place.... Many monsters are eager to see the moon ,the sun ,and the stars and they may not care that you and Frisk don't. So it is important for you to learn how to avoid confrontation until one of us can help. Eventually the monsters may learn that you only wish to live among us... but pretend this dummy is a monster. Interact with it how you might if it was not one of us...” Asgore explained, raising a pristine white paw to gesture at the dummy. 

Chara was confused , but decided that she would begin by asking about the weather. She got bored and began to tell it knock-knock jokes, and then began to throw out silly one liners. She must of either satisfied or bored the goats enough ,because they soon concluded the she was prepared enough to head to their house in 'New Home' which was name by Toriel , who was know for being horrible at naming things. 

After the brief, yet very confusing time with the dummy in the ruins they made their way back to the cottage. Packing up meager belongings mostly consisting of clothes, and various foods they made their way down the mysterious stairs that Asriel and Toriel would depart down for hours a day. Asriel would often come back with these strange papers with strange symbols that he called homework that he got from a place called school. Chara was of course very curious and often pointed to the weird crossed lines, and various scribbled words and asked what it said. 

When Asgore heard about this he began to read to Chara and Frisk for two hours a day and introduce Chara to the symbols which apparently belonged to something called 'math'. The entire concept confused Chara a lot , and she hoped that one day that she would understand it. But going back to what was currently happening they made their way down the stairs. Another long hallway similar to what were in the ruins greeted them at the bottom. Making their way down they went to another large metal door. Asgore held it open for his wife and children , and beyond that door was something that Chara had never experienced before. Only overheard when her ailing grandfather would recount his life. 

Snow.


	4. Citrus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First interactions with skeletons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is more of a two parter, I know that in Underswap Gaster takes the place for River person, however that is one of the things that I am kind of ignoring. Just like how in Underswap Monster Kid and Asriel swap places, and I kind of made Asriel a bit more friendly than he probably was in Undertale. I guess that is OK since it is just a fanfic, but I just wanted to say here Gaster is still a scientist.   
> Since this takes place before the timelines, and I couldn't find out who Gerson swapped with , Gerson keeps his role as the old captain of the royal guard.

It had not been long of Chara crunching the snow with her boot-covered feet before she began to hear something maneuvering beyond the line of her site. She slowly began to look around alarmed at the thought of a monster ambush, wishing to once again protect the tiny life within her she wrapped her arms around her abdomen. Asriel whom was walking besides looked concerned for her: “Chara are you alright?” the young goat monster questioned with a slight tilt of his head.

“I'm alright, but do you hear that ?” Asriel paused before running up to Toriel who was a few paces in front of them. He pointed at something in the wood line. Toriel patted him on the head,and walk over to where Chara was. She patted Chara on the head before redirecting her focus back on the trees. 

“Papyrus , it is alright. You can come out now. The human is with us.” Toriel called out . But there was no visible response. Toriel looked slightly befuddled , Asgore joined by her side. 

“Knock-Knock” Asgore called out to the shaded wood line. Seeing on how Papyrus did not respond to Toriel worried Chara, and her arms snaked themselves closer around the tiny bump. 

“who's there?” a voice responded from a different section of the woods. 

“Orange” Asgore answered calmly as if this was a usual process for him. 

“orange who ?” the mysterious voice once again sounded out. 

“Orange you glad we are here? Now come on out Papyrus” Asgore answered. In response to this a humanoid figure came out of a completely section of the woods than where the voice stemmed from. Upon closer and clearer inspection it was clear it was some kind of skeleton, the skeleton wore a orange hoodie and brown cargo pants. His pitch black eyes bore into her with an intensity that made her shudder despite the layers she had been fitted before her journey into the unknown. 

He switched his sights to the grown Dreamurrs : “hey ,you goat somewhere to be going to right?” In response to the bad puns interlaced within his questions Asgore laughed. 

“We are making our way to New Home , I know Gerson is working you to the bone, but is Gaster busy by any chance ? He is the closest thing we have to a doctor around here” Asgore asked answering with his own joke. 

“ hm, dadster should be home with sans. are you taking the human to see him?” Chara did not really know if there was a joke in his sentence, but his attention was back on her in full force. There was something slightly uncomfortable about his stare. 

“That is the plan. Would you like to come with us ?” Asgore extended the offer cautiously. As if introducing a dog to a feline very slowly. 

“y'know i am pretty much done with my patrol, no skin off my nose to accompany you, so lets goat going” he answered with a slight wink . 

The family decided to follow the lanky skeleton back passed various snow cased fields, and guard stations. Eventually they made their way to a inviting little village called: “Snowedin”. There seemed to be quaint shops and restaurants here that Chara would be interested in exploring if she had the chance to later. 

Following the others further they approached a small cabin. Papyrus held the door open as everyone made their way in. When it was Chara's turn to enter the small cabin Papyrus's eyes seemed to darken even more as the slight glimmer he had when talking to the others vanished. The also seemed to grow wider. The look Chara received from him turned her blood to ice, and she quickened her pace to join her family. 

“dadster , Asgore and Toriel have a bone to pick with you!” Papyrus shouted to another from besides her. 

A dark figure exited from one of the doors, a slim yet well dressed similar skeleton looking person. In his arms he held a small blue wrapped bundle that occasionally made small sounds. He had blue and orange eyes, with bizarre cracks going in opposite directions stemming from his eyes. He rushed over excited to see Papyrus ,but quickly stopped when he noticed a cigarette in the skeleton boy's mouth : “What did I tell you about smoking ?” yanking the cancer stick out of his mouth before seemingly making it evaporate into thin air. 

“not to” Papyrus nonchalantly answered , Gaster seemed to start another tirade but his face went grim when he spotted Chara. Redirecting his attention to the present royals he launched himself into a greeting. 

This would surely get interesting.


	5. Paper Cuts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First Ultrasound + Drama

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is kind of late, got busy and I wanted to put a lot more into this chapter.

Asgore and Toriel did not seem to notice the brief darkened glances she had receiving from the older two skeletons. She assumed that the younger bundle ,still within Gaster's grasp was Sans, because it would be odd not to see the aforementioned Sans if seemingly his entire family was present. The older monsters wondered over to the kitchen leaving Chara and Asriel in the presence of Papyrus. While Gaster was away , Papyrus whipped out another cigarette from a unseen pocket. Somehow it was lit without the use of another cigarette or a lighter. Cigarettes often brought Chara back to bad time, so she diverted her attention to a very interesting crack in the wall. 

“Didn't your father tell you not to smoke?” Asriel questioned the skeleton who seemed to slouch more when the adults where away. 

“he has his vices, he could let me have mine.” he answered the kid back with a minuscule shrug of his shoulders. Chara stood silent , wanting for the older Dreamurrs to hurry up so that she could leave the tense company of the skeleton. She had no such luck though. 

“humans are snow laughing matter, what's her name kid?” Papyrus asked Asriel , Chara did not know how to really react. Should she demand a semblance of respect from him, should she just ignore the glares and the diminutive remarks until her adoptive parents showed up? The crack in the wall was certainly interesting, it stemmed from a portion of the wall that was covered by a slightly crooked frame with some abstract art. 

“Her name is Chara ! She is one of my new human sisters !” Asriel answered cheerfully ,but somewhat naively. Maybe the skeleton did not like Chara because she was a human, and revealing that there was going to be a another one would cause harm to come to Frisk. She wound her arms around his stomach, as if that may shield her from the harm that could come from leaked knowledge as she focused on the art. 

Papyrus sat back against the couch , one knee came up as one of his arms came to remove the lit cigarette from his mouth as he observed the human's timid withdrawn behavior. 

“so she is having a kid, kid ?” papyrus offered taking another drag of his cigarette. Of course he had figure that she was in the process of reproducing, or pregnancy as he had heard in his human history course, there were two souls present within her. However she also had a kill present in that soul, and despite him not normally caring, her being adopted by the Dreamurrs not only meant she would have a prominent role in the underground. It also meant that she could harm his family. Closing his eyes for a moment he reflected back. Back to his dreams. His nightmares. Where a very similar human to the one before him thrived. Sometimes she had the sweetest smile that would make his soul melt, others she had driven him to a mournful madness. They had always been just dreams. This ? This was real. 

“Yes, my mom said that smoking is bad for babies , so could you not smoke?” Asriel answered and asked, knocking Papyrus out of his state of recollection of horrid but vivid dreams. 

“Yes. Please do Papyrus..” A new voice called out from the entrance of the living room. Papryus scrambled to get rid of the offending object now that his father was standing there glowering. Gaster's free arm reached up to squeeze the bridge of his nose , giving him of a expression of frustration directed toward his oldest son. 

“Papyrus I need you to watch Sans. Asgore and Toriel want me to give Chara a check up before they head back to New Homes, however I need to set up some equipment to evaluate Frisk's soul” he directed his attention towards Chara, however it seemed less venomous and more doleful. Seeing as he knew about Frisk, Asgore and Toriel probably informed him about them. Chara was not sure if this really more calming as she was still much more jittery around Papyrus. 

Approaching Papyrus whom was sans cigarette he handed him Sans. Sans cooed with a clear excitement reaching up to grab at his brothers cheekbones. Papyrus in turn gave him a very fond look and nuzzle his face to his younger brother's forehead. Still felling the grip of discomfort , Chara forced her eyes to continue to stare at a new crack in the wall. Away from the two affectionate skele-bros. There was no doubt that it was not really polite, but Chara did not know to interact with the skeletons. A quiet movement caught her attention, and ruby red eyes shifted to meet Gaster who now turned towards her with a civil demeanor.

“Right this way Chara” he said guiding Chara to follow him to a previously unseen door. Chara followed him, hands unwinding only to interlace themselves together in a expression of nervousness. Once they were inside the obscured room , Chara was told to sit on a chair , besides the chair was a bizarre device. Asgore and Toriel where there for support, they offered to leave if she wanted privacy, but Chara was tired of being alone in this, and now that she had a family she wanted them there. 

“OK Chara this may be a bit strange, but today we are going to do a ultrasound ,I will need to ask some questions regarding your pregnancy and family. I'll admit I do not know that much about human pregnancies, but I have similar enough medical devices, and I am the closest thing to a doctor down here. That being said if it is OK with you we may begin” Gaster ranted with a slight chuckle. Chara quickly agreed, although she could not see the skele-teen she did not want to be in his house longer than necessary. 

Spreading a blue opaque mixture on her stomach he started to ask questions: “So this is your first pregnancy I presume...?” Chara quickly answered yes, also not having much of a desire to answer too many of these questions. 

“I am sorry if these questions hit any sore spots, but how long do you estimate that you were pregnant for..?” Chara winced as the next question came out of his mouth. She tried to think back on it, she was often kept in a dark room persisting of nothing but a bare bed and damaged walls. She figured it out when she could no longer wear some of the clothes that she was used to, she was always consider to be quite slim and sickly , so this was unusual . There were also certain sore body regions ,but with her abuse she had figured it was pretty normal. That had also been quite awhile ago, though this change had made her decide that she needed to hasten her plan to escape. 

“I think three and a half months. I did not have a way to keep track of time , so I don't really know”. Although Chara had thought about it a lot , she still did not know how much time had passed. Gaster seemed to be satisfied enough and began to rotate a small circular bulb on her stomach, the machine flickered to life. Grey dominated the vast majority of the screen, but in the center of that gray was a small bean-like figure curled in her stomach. The bean had a large head , and tiny limbs. Chara could feel tears springing to her eyes just looking at it. Although she did not want to have children this young, she felt a great deal of love for this child. 

“Everything looks pretty healthy miss Dreamurr. The baby should be due in about twenty six weeks or six and a half months. I would advise that you eat lots of fruits and vegetables and drink plenty of water, as it will be important for the nutritional needs of Frisk. I think that we should have another ultrasound in about a month or so to determine the sex of the baby” Gaster explained. Chara felt loss for some unknown reason , so it is possible that there could have been more said, but the desire to leave overwrote the information. 

“OK that somewhat concludes this appointment...could I interest you in anything before you continue your journey to New Home ?”

“Just a little more conversation , it has been a while since we caught up Gaster , we could go back to the living room though.” Asgore said dashing Chara's hope to be out of the house, though she did not project this. She pulled her sweater down, and followed the grown ups out the room. Once they were all in the living room, Asriel ran up to Chara. He seemed to be going for a classic football tackle until a fierce glare from Toriel reminded him that Chara was in no real condition to be messing around like that. 

“Chara how did your appointment go ?” Asriel asked excitedly , he was so excited that he appeared to be bouncing in place. His ears flopping with every movement. 

“It went fine. Frisk is healthy...” Chara smiled at him ,but kept her answer rather brief. She could feel Papyrus's glare now that she reentered the room. Gaster began to explain some of the more finer details to the goats and Chara just listened along, hoping that appearing distracted would keep her from being noticed by the skele-teen. She had no real such luck as she felt a hand clamp tightly on her shoulder, bracing herself she turned to face none other than Papyrus, who glared down at her with two large abysmal eyes. Sans in contradiction sat on Papyrus's hip looking with blue starry eyes happily at her. 

“human we need to have a chat .”


	6. Fragmented and Sutured

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus confronts Chara on why she has EXP. Sans and Frisk meet.

“human we need to have a chat...” the voice seemed to echo in the space around her, yet she seemed to be the only one to acknowledge him and his command. She gulped , she could not stop the fear that was crawling up from around her ,engulfing her in complete and utter panic. She looked for a way to escape ,but none of the others seemed to be paying them any attention. Before she could see if there was another way out he distracted her with a firm grip on her sweater sleeve. 

“this way human. I promise it won't take too long , or much thyme.” He wink with those dark eye holes and something vermilion colored seemed to awaken in one of them. Chara finding no way out decided to just go with him. Maybe he won't kill me she thought. They went up the stairs and into one of the rooms. It was messy to say the least, clothes were strung everywhere and there seemed be paper covering any and all spare space. Chara thought the papers looked very similar to Asriel's homework in the fact that there were words and symbols disbursed variously on it. In the middle of the room there was also a treadmill ,which Chara thought was odd. If he was already a skeleton why did he need to lose weight ? Less notably there was also a bed, but it was not made and the bare mattress was exposed.

He seemed to catch her confused look at the exercise machine. With a light chuckle he said: “i may not look like it ,but I weigh a ton. A skele-ton.” He walked over to the extremely messy bed ,and set down the fussy baby bones whom seemed to anger at the mess. He rubbed his head fondly , saying a few things on how this wouldn't take long ,and he'll clean his room soon. Turning around he faced Chara , he took a deep breath in and released it. 

“i snow you may have not had the best circumstances, but I have to protect my family. this may be somewhat confusing ,but i need to ask you about your soul,” Papyrus started his rant. “you see there are certain observable aspects of the soul that can tell a lot about someone” Papyrus had gotten really close to her, Chara took a step back. “for example there is EXP or execution points, when you kill someone your EXP rises, when you kill enough your can raise your LOVE or level of violence or your capacity to hurt someone...” he took another step forward in exchange for Chara taking another step back. “Although you are only level 1, you have execution points... I am unlike my other iterations human , so you better tell me how you got them. Or your gonna have a BAD time.” Chara felt chills running up her spine, and tears threatening to fall from her face. She turned to try and quickly make her way out of the room ,but her way was quickly block by a blockade of bones. 

“looks like you want to have a bad time...” he stated calmly with a chuckle. Out of his eye a change occurred. A flame shot out of it , making him look very similar to the demons that her grandfather would tell her about from the religious tomes. Although he had made no other move to attack her , she now could not stop the stream of tears that made their way out of her eyes. He looked kind of confounded. She choked a few times, before forcing a few staggered words out of her throat.

“I d-didn't want too” she began to fervently try to wipe away the tear stains. Her other arm wrapped protectively around her stomach. It did not stop Papyrus from ripping out the twin human souls; one pure , and the other one tainted by EXP points. He only focused on the tainted one though , leaving the other one to float unattended. 

“why did you kill …?” he questioned once again . Now with the accompanying feeling of frustration because he had wanted this to be quick , but it was now a elongated bad time that would probably warrant a lot of annoyance from not only Gaster, but the Dreamurrs. 

“ I tried to run, but he chased after me. He was telling me what he was planning to do to Frisk when they were born. I couldn't let them go through what I went through... I didn't know what to d-do” Chara stammered out. More tears streamed out now. Papyrus wanted to press more , he wanted to be completely sure that there would never be any harm coming to his brother. Though he would be in trouble if he were to just shatter the souls, he seriously contemplated it though. There was also a deep feeling of sympathy blooming for the girl now. She was only thirteen. Only two years younger than him ,and she was already having a child, and not even from her own accord. He had gleamed from Asriel that having a kid while still being a kid wasn't her intentions. Papyrus was relieved that monsters had to wait till a certain stage in adult hood for their magic to develop enough to reproduce and support baby monsters. 

He couldn't bring himself to harm her, not when so many people he loved adored her.

He lowered his bones, and decided now that he knew the why and the truth from the horse's mouth he could be her friend : “ok Chara, i'm sorry. i had to make sure you wouldn't hurt anyone. i didn't think you would but I had to be sure” there was no consoling the girl now that she had seen the judge. She now bawled into her closed fist, knees rose up to ball herself up to protect her and Frisk. Papyrus was now unsure about what to do, but he inched closer before squatting down to rub her shoulders making small shushing sounds. He managed to pull her crying form on to him , he wasn't quite sure that he was doing this comforting thing correctly but it was the effort that counted he hoped. Chara was somewhat expecting Papyrus to take Sans and go , but she was surprised at his attempt to soothe her. She was certain that she would never be able to trust the lazy skeleton who cared for his brother, she had seen beyond the façade . It was a façade that hid a beast that she never hoped was directed at her or Frisk. 

After a little time she was able to stiffen her tears, expressing sadness when she was in that horrible stage of her life often gave her more pain because the man would take pleasure in her pain. She was used to controlling her sadness. A loud sound from Sans soon caught both of their attention, when they turned around they saw what had captivated the baby bones. In his small skeletal hand he held a small flawless red soul, he clasp sent a joint from her stomach. Frisk had just kicked for the first time. Chara was shocked ,and didn't quite know what to do. Papyrus seemed to be shocked as well, but he made his way up and over when a small upside down white soul revealed itself from behind Sans. He was too late to prevent what he had wanted to, as the white soul and the red one danced and touched occasionally. Whatever was happening it elicited joyful giggles from Sans and more kicks from Frisk whom seemed to be quite as joyful. Papyrus grab the white soul and Sans and attempted to shove the little white soul back into the bone baby, much to the displeasure of the bone baby as he began to wail loudly. Finally this seemed to grab the attention of the adults. They approached quickly and Frisk's soul pitifully made its slow way back to Chara's body. Gaster opened the door. 

“heya pops” Papyrus greeted his father nervously as he attempted to make the enraged Sans mellow. The angry 'mwehs' were proof that it wasn't going well. Gaster's eyes seemed to narrow in a skeptical manner. 

“Why does Frisk's soul look different ?” a previously unnoticed red line trailed back to the baby bones and wound around his pinkie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The long awaited confrontation. Also may be a bit of a spoiler.....
> 
> but Frisk and Sans are now merely soulmates, there isn't going to be a baby inside a baby inside a baby or however that meme goes . You know the one where the dude is all like : "I heard you like donuts, so I put a donut inside your donut...". That is not my intention just some drama for next chapter lol.


	7. Kindling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of the judgement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yesterday was one of those strange day where I didn't sleep , so slightly longer yet more incohesive chapter today I guess.

As he entered the room he shot Papyrus a light-less glare. How could this have happened on his watch. He glanced at Chara , stricken with a sudden shot of concerned as he noticed her tear-stained face. He felt really guilty for how he regarded her when she first arrived at the house. Although Papyrus was now working a plethora of jobs , it was decided that Papyrus would take the role of the judge when everyone else was ready to take their respective roles. The ability to judge ran in the family, and although Gaster did not like the position much it was a job that he took when his own sibling faded to dust. Therefore Gaster could indeed detect the EXP that had tainted Chara's soul. He took it upon himself to inform Asgore and Toriel about the other condition that their new child had when they were alone. They looked grim when they informed him just how old Chara was , and asked that he looked past it because they knew that she had fresh trauma from the human world. Although it shocked him that they didn't want to know everything about Chara , he also understood that it was a atrocity what the other humans did to her. He then decided that he too would accept Chara until she gave him a good reason not too, it did not mean that he would trust her alone with Sans but he didn't think she posed a huge threat now that he had found out more about her. 

He quickly rejoined Papyrus hoping that Sans would deter him enough for the human to leave so that he could talk to him privately ,and try to get him to lay off Chara a bit. He knew that Chara or Frisk would perhaps trigger something within him because Papyrus had been waking him up since his times as a baby bones wailing about a human demon that would kill him and everyone. He also decided to stop messing around with the machine. The machine had shown him things, things that were hard to comprehend . Things that were confusing because they showed him timelines. He seen that eventually the machine would kill him. Gaster had no intention of leaving Papyrus to fend for himself or Sans, so he destroyed it. The machine was originally intended to take one human soul and stretch it enough to replace seven. Though it seemed utterly ineffective, he would soon need to be rid of the parts or Undyne might try to rebuild it. 

“Why does Frisk's soul look different ?” with that line everything devolved into chaos. Asgore and Toriel butted into the room, while Asriel followed closely behind them seemingly oblivious to the tense atmosphere of the room. They gasped when they also noticed the visible line linking the receding red soul to the baby bones. Asriel being ever so curious ran up to it and touched it , much to the dismay of everyone else in the room. Frisk's soul was pulled out again, and she physically kicked again sending Chara to her knees as she curled into herself. Sans began to wail louder much to the irritation of Papyrus whom now attempted to bounce the angry bone boy. The goats ran over to comfort their human child, while Gaster gathered up Sans. 

“Congratulations, Frisk discovered their soulmate...” Gaster huffed out , not very amused. It is not that he really had any contempt for his son choosing a human, but he found it very strange that his son choose someone he hadn't physically met. The red soul now fluttered around them , instantly calming Sans down as he reached for it. It glowed brightly in his grip, reflecting a red glow onto Sans's face. It wasn't often that Gaster was at a complete loss on what to do. But he was at a complete loss on what to do , he chanced a look back at Asgore and Toriel whom still sat close to Chara on the ground. They appeared to be resting their hands on her stomach, apparently Frisk was moving in response to Sans. He would not be surprise if they were a bit peeved with him ,despite Asgore and Toriel being the nicest monsters in the underground. He knew one thing though , and that was that Papyrus was at least grounded. 

“Papyrus go to the living room and sit on the couch...Now.” Papyrus made his way out of the room, excusing his way passed the royal monsters without a fuss. He had figured out that he had really messed up , or he may had put up a lazy despite. Making his way back to Asgore and Toriel , they looked up at him. They did not seem that upset , but they were royalty and somewhat good at hiding their feelings. 

They stood back up to full height. Guiding Chara back up among with them, with dazed red eyes she looked at him. Everyone seemed at a brief loss of words , so Gaster decided that an immediate apology would be the best way for the new skull session to start : “I am sorry about him , I did not realize that he would be that eager to start judging. I am also sorry about Frisk and Sans soul bonding, I did not think that it were a feat humans were capable of, nor did I think that Papyrus would leave Sans unattended long enough for Sans to bond. I swear the kid can be a real bone-head sometimes...” Gaster apologized swiftly. 

Toriel still looked rather shocked at the turn of events, so Asgore spoke : “It is OK I suppose, though we do expect him to apologize to her in the near future,” looking at Toriel he looked for any signs of disapproval from what he was saying from his wife. “I guess it is also alright that Frisk is also bonded to a monster, it may prevent her from trying to leave the underground anytime soon... I guess it is also a reason to have frequent appointments.” Toriel did not seem to have very much to say still. 

“Frisk is kicking now, and Chara was saying that she wouldn't be kicking for a while , so I think it is good!” Asriel also interjected happy that he had a new way to communicate with the baby. 

“Will this have any effect on Chara or on Frisk...?” Toriel finally spoke in, her silence meant that she was probably assessing the situation of her daughter. Chara still appeared to be very dazed. She did not seem as frightened as before, which Gaster hoped was good. 

“Frisk may be born sooner, which with adequate care should be fine. I will need to perform more ultrasounds and test to be sure that they are born under the healthiest circumstances,” Gaster began to think about how broken his younger son would be if his soul mate was lost in any part of the child birth. Those who lost a soulmate , where at much higher risk than others of dusting. Those who bond when they are young are at an even higher risk. Sans's cheery love-filled expression would develop into a depressed demeanor. Not to mention a monster even interacting in a battle or similar engagement seemed to not only effect Chara but Frisk, and since Frisk and Sans were now connected it seemed that if Frisk took any damage it would mirror onto Sans. Gaster now had a idea, one that would serve as Papyrus's punishment and serve to protect the afflicted parties He would of course need to run it by the Dreamurrs. “It would be detrimental for them both for them to have no dangerous interactions for all involved parties”.

“We understand the risk that is now involved not only for Chara but for Frisk and Sans, how would you propose that we shelter them?”

“I was thinking that since Papyrus got us into this mess , he could serve as Chara's personal guard or knight... at least until Frisk is born,” Gaster started . He knew that the real problem would not come from introducing Toriel and Asgore to the idea, as they acknowledged the additional risk that could befall either Frisk or Sans if a over eager monster attempted to get the souls from Chara. He made eye contact with Chara whom seemed to tune back into the present at the mention of Papyrus and her in the same sentence. 

“I um ….” Chara did not know what to say. She was still really frightened at the idea of dealing with Papyrus particularly after the latest encounter. Even though he had tried to console her after the fact , they were not what you could call friends by any stretch of the imagination. Though she did know why he did it. If she had to worry about someone possibly killing Frisk she would react in a scary manner as well, in fact she had. She also acknowledged that her life just got tangled with him via Sans's connection to Frisk.

“Papyrus is a judge, he is not to kill or fight unless they were to commit genocide down here. Papyrus might have acted harshly ,but that was extremely out of character for him.” Gaster explained to Chara carefully. Chara searched carefully for the correct words to use, she did not want to be around Papyrus longer than she had to. She was sure that the feeling was mutual from his end as well. 

“What does Papyrus think about the possible guard situation, if he isn't up to it he could make it up in other ways.” Toriel suggested. 

“Lets go find out,” with that the all departed from Papyrus's messy room. As part of the punishment Gaster would force the room into a state of orderliness once more. Once again in the living room they encounter Papyrus who had worked himself into a light slumber. Although his stats might suggest that he was one of the weaker monsters to inhabit the underground , he had one of the stronger magics ,and often rested in order to replenish it. Although Chara had been very uneasy in his presence earlier in the day, now that he was resting ,and that she had figured out his intentions there was something slightly pleasing about his relaxed state, though Chara could not quite put her finger on it. 

“Papyrus. This is not time for a nap , wake up,” Sans fell asleep midst the conversation allowing Frisk's soul to travel back to Chara, and not wanting Sans to wake up until the Dreamurr family departed he woke up the older resting skele-teen with a calm voice. Papyrus cracked his eyes open , half lidded with a dim eye light that was unlike his previous hostile void-like ones that communicated harsh intentions. He had glanced at her before turning his full attention to his father. “We know what you could do to make up for the problems you caused with your hasty behavior”. Although Papyrus knew he had to make sure that Sans would never face any possible harm from the human, he regretted his actions. He felt the pull to begin to apologize a dozen times during the wait to the red eyed girl, but now or then wasn't the time. He tilted his head at his father as if to ask :'what?'.

“If you feel that you could control yourself not to make anymore bad decisions regarding Chara , we want you to serve as Chara's personal guard... now that Sans and Frisk are bound there is even more incentive for you to accept this proposal.” Although Papyrus could not claim to be the best protector , since it directly effected Sans he decided he would accept it. Besides this gave him more than a chance to make it up to Chara. 

And just like that Chara's fate was sealed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So , Sans wants to hold Frisk's soul forever. Papyrus is now also in charge of protecting Chara , basically if Chara dies Frisk dies and Sans either gets really depressed forever or dies , so no pressure.


	8. Chilled

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Dreamurrs finally leave the Skeleton household.

Papyrus had accepted the position. Sure it may of just added to the work that he had to get done on a daily basis ,but it gave him a chance to watch the mysterious human and his brother's unborn soulmate that much closer. He was not sure that him and the human would ever form a close bond, but that did not matter when it came to the safety of those that he loved. He looked to glanced at those mesmerizing ruby eyes that reflected back a clear sense of disbelief at his acceptance of the proposal to be her protector. He wielded a powerful magic that granted him many abilities. Among these abilities was one that not only gave him good reflexes, but a mysterious teleportation power. He often used this power to cover short distances in the underground in a fraction of a second, but it would not allow him to bypass the barrier. There had been attempts to do so previously that were failures. Though his abilities did not end there, his reflexes would make monsters unable to touch her. There seemed to be a great chatter, and although he would be able to recall everything that was said around him, he was not truly paying too much attention. Chara on the other hand inserted herself at a great length into the conversation, seemingly doing everything possible to avoid making eye contact with him. Lightly sighing he turned away from him, since they were going to probably be in-laws in the distant future they would need to work on that. 

“Papyrus Skeleton do you agree to take the position of royal guardian in the service ,and for the protection of Princess Chara Dreamurr” Toriel's now booming voice questioned him in the way that only a royal could truly pull off. Papyrus shifted his gaze to meet the queen's. Although her eyes betrayed her hesitance to pass her daughter's well being off to him , there was also a keen wisdom within her eyes. Although she probably knew something that he didn't , despite this it was hard to keep Papyrus uninformed for too long. 

“i accept the position” with a kneel and a bow he showed proper etiquette to the royal family. Although they were family friends that went back generations, it was important that their was a distinction in place. Although Papyrus was unsure how that may change for Sans. Although soulmates were generally pretty common and usually served a romantic purpose, there were instances of platonic soulmates. For example Undyne and Alphys declared themselves as “permanent best friends for all of eternity” when their souls bonded, although he also knew of Undyne's crush on the tough yellow lizard.

“Stand Papyrus Skeleton , personal guard of Princess Chara” she commanded him. To be knighted in his own living room was a surreal experience, but since they now hand a human princess he guess it was not all that weird. 

“Mom I am hungry, can we have Grillby's ?” Asriel asked his mother interrupting the odd afterglow of the moment. Papyrus remembered the royal couple's distaste for the greasy food served by Grillby. Waiting for the rejection of such a question he was proven wrong when the royal couple noticed how long they had actually been at the Skeleton household. 

“By the stars it is so late already...,” although they were stuck inside a cavern underneath Mount. Ebott , the interior had long been tampered with to create realistic seasons and a night and day cycle. It was currently showing a late night sky. Or what you could see of the 'sky' with the trees encompassing the small village. Turning to her son she approved his once ridiculous request : “Just this once ,and only because it is so late. We will also be staying at the inn.” Turning to the Skeleton family she graced them with a small smile. “Papyrus, thank you for accepting the position, despite your current feelings about Chara I know that you keep your promises well , as you have always done so for my husband. Please be prepared for our departure early tomorrow, as we are going to New Home. Many monsters are eager to see the outside world, so your accompaniment of Chara is required.” Asriel cheered with excitement oblivious to the last part of Toriel's addressment to his sister's keeper ,and quickly grasped Chara's hand prepared to lead her in the direction of the royal couples least favorite restaurant. Papyrus watched in subtle confusion as the Dreamurr family exited the house. 

Gastered huffed : “Your duty as a royal guardsmen duties may not have started yet, but you are still in trouble from me for not thinking before you confronted her. Why did you do it?” Gaster questioned. Although Gaster made no changes to his speaking voice he gestured for Papyrus to follow him as he made his room to Sans's room to deposit the young skeleton into his own bed. If they were lucky he would sleep for a while longer. 

“i don't really know, i had to know what her intentions were.” he shrugged while answering his father. 

“Did you ever pause to think that she had no bad intentions, you could have just asked about her to Asriel or something while she was having her exam.” Gaster vented at his oldest child while gesturing to him wildly to him with his hands. Gaster had learned sign language when he met the boys mother, so out of habit to greater communicate his points it was often a habit that he reverted back to. Papyrus did not often think back to his mother much , she was a painful memory and evoked numerous uncontrollable emotions. 

“i did, i know that she loves chocolate and sweet things , but you can't exactly ask the kid if he thinks his sister is capable of a genocidal murder spree of his own kind.” he explained why he hadn't dug as deeply as he wanted to Asriel about the girl. Besides Papyrus realized a long time ago that Asriel had inherited a very trusting nature from his father. He hoped that for later times that he would grow into a more cynical ruler like Toriel ( for lack of better words), because Asgore was rather gullible at the best of times. 

“I suppose that you are right about not really being able to interrogate Asriel about Chara. But I believe that you should have had much more tack about the situation. As a punishment you must clean your room,” witnessing the indifference from Papyrus set Gaster off a little: “at least pick up your sock. It was embarrassing that the royal family, and a girl had to see your unkempt room”. Thinking about it a little more he remembered that Papyrus literally took a girl to see his disgusting room: “Did I not raise you better than that?” he questioned his oldest son. Papyrus now realizing the possible implications of what he did from a external perspective blushed a deep orange color, which was because orange is the color of his magic. 

“ok pops I am going to go clean my room” Papyrus truthfully did not have much motivation to clean the room ,but was eager to escape the awkward questioning from his father. He did end up cleaning the room. Sometime later Gaster ended up popping back into his room to remind him that he had to be up early in order to escort the human and the Dreamurrs to New Home. It was not much later that Papyrus himself fell into a deep sleep. 

Chara

Chara had been bewildered when Papyrus had accepted the proposal to protect her .She guessed that if he was protecting her he would less likely to harm her , but was still concerned about Papyrus himself. There was always the possibility of Frisk being harmed by a encounter and being that Sans was now tied to Frisk , it was a extra assurance that Papyrus would not harm her. However he was very scary , he could summon a wall of bones to block her from leaving his room, what else could he do to her. Asriel chattered about how good Grillby's was. Chara was very curious about it before her abduction she had come from a poor family who worked all day for their meals. Chara grew up malnourished and without a education, although thinking too much on that brought fresh pain back to Chara's heart, or soul she guess. 

“They have burgers and Fries, and lots of different things. What do you think that you want Chara?” The young goat bleeted excitedly. Chara tilted her head in confusion.

“What is a burger and fries” Chara asked confused. Asriel looked shocked that she had never had experience the wonderful sensation of biting into a burger. 

“I think that you should get a burger and fries. It is super tasty!” 

“I trust what you say.” Even if Chara did not end up liking what was put in front of her she would eat all of it. The walk over to Grillby's was brief, and there was no more time for more conversation. The appearance of the royal couple and a human was a shock, Grillby lead them to a table that was in the middle of the restaurant. Having decided to have the burger and fries too, Asgore requested four of them. There was not much of a wait time, Asriel and Chara went back to discussing other missed experiences, and Asgore and Toriel held hands and talked a bit about Sans's and Frisk's bonding. Although Gaster thought they were upset at the fact that they bonded before Frisk was even born , they secretly thought the idea was cute. It reminded them about how they met. Despite Papyrus's goat jokes Asgore wasn't really a goat monster he was a ram monster. He was also sworn to be Toriel's royal protector when they first met, he was the newly promoted captain of the royal guard and she was the princess who was destined to inherit the crown. She was betrothed to another, but over time they got closer and fell in love. This lead Toriel to go against her parent's plans and elope with Asgore soul bonding with him. At which point her parents receded and allowed the union because soul bonding is irreversible. They pondered if Frisk was the only human who would soul bond with a Skeleton.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Geeps although not genetically viable are adorable imo. Since these are monsters they run on a different rule set.  
> Mostly made Asriel a geep because I found it odd that the only two goat monster we encounter in the game had a kid together , so yeah no incest royal bloodlines in my fanfic.


	9. Escapade (prt. 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Dreamurrs and Chara finally leave Snowdin and begin their journey into Waterfall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all I was half way through writing this before my computer thought it was a good idea to just delete the entire document when I went to reference something. Sorry it is so late and kind of short. More tomorrow because I try to update this on a daily basis.

The meal had been amazing. Chara was a bit unsure of the burger and the fries as it had a very alien texture. She could almost see stars as she tasted it. For a short time it was just her and the burger that existed. Shortly after she finished it she tuned back in, Asriel and the older Dreamurrs where discussing the inn. Although Chara had to admit that she felt very weary, she was a little nervous at the prospect of meeting more monsters soon, some of them did not spare her a second glance despite her trailing behind the Dreamurrs. She hoped that none of them had a similar reaction to Papyrus .

Soon after they had concluded their meal and payed for it, they exited the restaurant. Chara was immediately struck with the frost nipping cold, and briefly thought about the fiery bartender warming his restaurant. Once again they traveled swiftly to another tiny building. Inside it was warm, and one of the rabbit monsters offered some cinnabuns. Chara had just ate ,so she wasn't really hungry, and she would feel bad if the Dreamurrs decided to get anything on her behalf. After a gentle decline, she followed Asriel into a shared room with twin beds. After saying her goodnight to her family she passed out.

The next morning she awoke to Asriel saying her name and shaking her gently. Although Chara had never been much of a light sleeper she felt really groggy getting out of bed this early in the morning. “Chara it is time to go, we have to get going early to make up on the miss time yesterday!” Asriel nearly shouted. Chara got up raising her legs over the side of the bed. Waterfall sounded like a really wet and muddy place from what the Dreamurrs told her ,so she thought that she should put a more weather resistant outfit. After putting on green rain boots and several layers ending in a similar colored outer coat with a yellow stripe Chara was ready to face the outdoors. Or whatever one wanted to call the area under Mount. Ebott. As she follow Asriel out of the room she was handed a cinnabon. Although she was initially hesitant to indulge in the tasty treat she quickly tore into it. Ecstatic as a warm cinnamon flavor filled her mouth. She happily followed the Dreamurr family. 

Now outside the inn the Dreamurrs made their way to exit the snowy little town. Knowing that Papyrus was supposed to accompany them on this trip made Chara a little nervous . Making their way pass his house there was no sign of him. Toriel and Asgore shared a look, but gestured for Chara to continue on anyways. They exited the town. Now that they were out there was a brief area full of nothing except some trees and a river that quietly floated large cubes of ice down the river. The very sight of it made Chara internally and externally shiver for reasons that she couldn't quite describe. Asriel being his typical cheery self was determine to beat the cube in a race to the last trees, not even five seconds into said race he tripped in a dramatic fashion onto his face. Chara was concerned that he may of hurt himself, but snickered with the other two Dreamurrs when he quickly righted himself and continue his race. As Chara proceeded among the same path it seemed to get more clouded, being unable to see Chara began to trip. As if in some cheesy movie time seemed to slow down. Chara let out a brief high pitch squeak drawing attention to her plummet. What Chara wasn't expecting where bony hand to stunt her descent to the ice covered grown. Lifting back upright into a stranding position she traced said bony hands up to the apex of the person, it was of course none other than Papyrus. 

“are you falling for me already?” Papyrus questioned with a slight chuckle at the end of his humerous question. Chara now in the company of her parents decided that she would answer him back. 

“That is snow business of yours is it” to Chara's surprise Papyrus chuckled in response to her lame pun. Although Asgore and Toriel were in hot pursuit of Asriel they turned around concerned for their other child. They were not surprise at Papyrus's appearance and waved a paw at him to which he wave back a bony hand. Chara was a bit embarrassed that she had punned horribly in front of them. Papyrus answered back to Chara after her parents went back to pursuing Asriel.

“ewe don't want to be left behind do you? let's catch up to the rest of the herd,” although Chara thought that Papyrus had definitely brushed off her redder than usual cheeks he had taken notice. Although he deemed it unusual he did not want to agitate his ward with his remarks of it being cute. He decided that he would keep behind Chara , looking intimidating from behind her may decrease the amount of brave monsters, and who knows how Chara may react if he were to make his eye flame in front of her after yesterdays experience. Chara made her way to catch up with her family , whom for the most part kept Asriel in a close distance of Chara. 

Once they had passed the snow they had officially reached Waterfall. As Chara had predicted it seemed to be a wet place. Posted at one of the stands there was Monster Kid, whom Chara had seen glimpses of at Snowdin but he seemed to be friends with Asriel who excitedly waved at him in passing. Monster Kid smiled wide and shook his tail, to which Asriel wave back enthusiastically. Making their way passed the room there were many bridges. Once they passed the bridge there , there was a short figure donned in a knight's attire. Her eyes transfixed on Chara before hardening into something a bit more sinister. Unbeknownst to Chara behind her the skeleton knight went into battle mode, a brief but barely flashing orange eye began to flicker catching the knight slightly off guard, more so when she spotted the royal family with the girl. As she thought more and more about the human and how they could finally see the sun. How Undyne and her could watch anime and go on picnics and read manga in the sun. She summoned her battle axe .Her honor would not allow it. Gerson had taught her that honor was one of the most important traits that the leader of the royal guard needed. She would need to face her head on, without the interference of the royal family or Papyrus. She sent her battle axe back to the realm that held her magic and receded deeper into Waterfall out of sight of Chara and her companions.


	10. Escapade (part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waterfall travels.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey I am so sorry that this came out so late, life is a bit hectic at the moment. I hope that you all enjoy this chapter. Might even come out a day late because I am using a wonky word processor that seems to enjoy autocorrecting my words.

After the initial encountered with Alphys , the future leader of the royal guard Chara had been frightened. It was safe to admit that she was perturbed that Alphys would summon her yellow magic battle axes despite the presence of her monster family and Papyrus. Although she was relieved when Alphys decided to recede back into the darkness of Waterfall, the feeling of fright for herself and Frisk was resurrected when she heard from Toriel just how determined Alphys would be to retrieve her and Frisk's soul to destroy the barrier. Although Toriel had also stated that they would have a chat with Alphys soon and Papyrus would keep her safe it was hard to silence the scared feeling that ran rampant in her soul. At some point soon after she had covered her stomach , it had become a odd coping mechanism of sorts. Although she knew she would probably dance out of the way more effectively if she had not taken such a position she felt weirdly comforted by the action of holding Frisk. It was akin to hugging someone, except that for now Frisk was in her stomach. Toriel and Asgore had discussed with her handling most of the parental responsibilities but also understood that Chara wanted to remain close with her daughter, even if she appeared more as a older sister figure in her life. Papyrus noticed the way that she shivered with some strained anxiety , and although he had done wrong he wanted to be close enough to be on amicable terms later with his sister in laws. Figuring he could be less closed off for once he decided to try to comfort her, biting his pride he spoke: “ewe know i wouldn't let any harm come to you right princess?”.

Ignoring the pun based off her adoptive mother Chara responded : “I guess, Alphys is still scary though...” the very thought of her and Frisk's soul being harvested and used sent a shiver up her spine and a cold draft felt like it was being washed over her. Or it could have been the water the she had just stepped under but at this point who really care? Papyrus tilted his head contemplating an answer that he had already decided on.

“kid , nothing really gets under my skin, so if you want you could hold my hand?” Although it wasn't really meant to be a question ,and it had a pun so it was supposed to convey his good mood or something it came out wrong. He had winked at her when had posed the question in a joking manner, but a light orange blush illuminated his face due to the dimness of Waterfall. Chara had been dumbfounded at his question. She was completely under the impression that h disliked her ,and only really cared for the well being of Sans. Though she guess she would not look at a gift horse in the mouth, in a shy manner she wrapped her hand around Papyrus's palm. Although she had not looked at him hands too much earlier she was surprised to find out that it was not only about twice the size of hers but warm as well. Blushing she turned to pretend to feign interest in another one of the mysterious wall writings. Papyrus who was now also blushing pulled up his hood, but followed Chara's lead to observed their history with the humans. Both human and monster began to read it , careful not to stray to far from the rest of the Dreamurr family. Although Chara still struggle a lot with reading, she could recognize more words from the wall. For Papyrus the words were fast and easy to comprehend so he resumed watching Chara, her face scrunched in concentration as she attempted to read the words. Was she having a hard time with it ?

Running back he seemed to be oblivious to the closeness of the two : “Chara do you need any help reading? I know some of the words can be kind of difficult.” Asriel stated smiling before he began to read. Although Chara had gotten her grandfather's perspective it was intriguing to hear the series of events from the monster's perspective. She could still relate to being a human , though she wonders how things would turn out for Frisk, whom was destined to end up with a skeleton monster. She began to ponder about San's and Frisk's future dynamic. Soon she was caught off guard by yet another conversation that Asriel had begun with her. 

“Hey Chara ? Was it true that you saw Alphys earlier ?” he asked her unaware of the fear it had invoked within her. Unconsciously she had tighten her grip on Papyrus's hand and wound her hand back around her stomach in a protective gesture. She kept her smile on her face , and answered Asriel. 

“Yeah . I did” although Chara would typically worry about giving too curt of an answer to Asriel, she could not help it this time. Though luckily Asriel did not perceive her as rude or mean. 

“She is so cool! She even showed you her battle axe didn't she? I really want her autograph, which I have since I am the prince but I want her to autograph my face. She beats up a lot of bad guys, I hope that we could see her in action. Though she might be mean to you at first since your a human , but that is why Papyrus is hear” Asriel rambled in a very enthusiastic manner , that although she was quick to fear at Alphys's name she could not help but find endearing. Letting a true smile and a giggle through she searched for a answer.

“She sounds like a great person, I would love to be friends with her” Chara responded with to the delight of Asriel. Although Papyrus had technically been one of the monsters to know her the longest, and was now her guardian he had yet to see her truly smile. It quickly transported him back to a place that he had only seen in his dreams. Unlike the majority of his dreams it was a happy place, where Sans and him were older, and the human smiled in a similar fashion. The smile sent his soul swooning as he observed the adorable sibling action. Although Papyrus was a monster he could not deny the charismatic beauty that Chara possessed. Though as always he would not comment on it , not to her directly. His father would probably pry it out of his skeletal hands when he returned home that night. As they traveled deeper into Waterfall they soon happen upon Echo flowers. 

The vibrant blue flowers not only illuminated the dim cavern in Waterfall ,but told many secrets. Many of the secrets were mundane chatter shared between friends , but it was amusing nevertheless. Chara listened with apt attention to each and every Echo flower. Along with her diligent reading of ever sign it probably contributed to a prolonged time in the luminescent Waterfall. Many puzzles were quickly solved by either by the other Dreamurrs or Papyrus, so perhaps it all balanced out in the end. Not to long afterward Chara and Asriel got interested in other things, entrusting their daughter to Papyrus , Toriel and Asgore went to make sure Asriel didn't almost fall off another bridge. Chara spotting another echo flower eagerly jogged up to it , curious about the message contained in the petals of the flower. 

“B E H I N D Y O U” 

Chara's blood turned to ice as she whirled around. Papyrus who for whatever reason kept his hands intertwined with hers dimmed his eyes, as he also turned to face the threat. Behind him the short monster approached. She stopped as if realizing something. It almost appeared as though she would recede into the darkness yet a second time, but her resolved harden almost as fast as it had broken. Now that the Dreamurr family was not around to witness her future horrid actions she could somewhat pardon them a little more, though she could already begin to feel the dirty nipping regret clawing at her soul. She summoned her yellow battleaxes and launched them at the petite human. Fear seemed to manifest itself in her eyes as they grew big. Papyrus however blocked them, summoning a large wall of bones in front of himself in the human. She had trained with him before, although she had hoped that she would never have to face him in battle she knew about his stats. She didn't want to hurt him ,but he only had one hp. It would not take much to removed him from his post safe guarding not one , but two human souls. 

“Chara Run !” Papyrus yelled as he grabbed Alphy's soul and threw her back several feet. The human contemplated leaving him behind, although she had suffered bad circumstances she deemed herself a pacifist and would feel guilty if Papyrus got hurt on her behalf. She thought quickly on how she could help him. Monster food was said to help regain hp. Dropping a nice cream that she had gotten from the nice cream guy who had been in one of the rooms in Waterfall, she ran towards where she saw her family go last hoping to get them to stop this Alphys that Asriel held in a high regard.   
She ran as quickly as she could, dodging all the monsters who attempted to stop her scramble to get help. 

“THOSE ARE TWO HUMAN SOULS PAPYRUS. IF WE TOOK THEM WE COULD SEE THE SUN, SANS COULD SEE THE SUN!!!” although Alphys usually took a loud tone it was much more louder when she was upset. Alphys attempted to leave the confrontation several times, but each time Papyrus would appear right in front of her. Because of her built frustration she lashed out at Papyrus , sending yellow battle axes raining upon him. Papyrus despite his low stats dodge every single attack before arguing back.

“The Sun Is Not All That It Is Cracked Up To Be. Did You Notice How Old That Human Was? Did You Not Notice That One Of The Souls Has A Bond? One To A Monster, You Would Dust One Of Us Just To See The Sun?” Papyrus was now raising his voice , he had not attacked hoping to appeal to Alphys's strong sense of honor. 

“WHO CARES IF ONE OF US DIES, WE NEED TO SEE THE SUN. WE WOULD JUST BE PUTTING THE HUMAN OUT OF HER MISERY. WE COULD DO THIS FOR MORE HUMANS IF NEED BE,” Alphys did not realize this , but that is when she messed up. Or at least in the eye-holes of Papyrus. His eye flaming orange he summon bones as Alphys attempted to escape once more. She could deal with a little damage as she had much more hp than he had, and seeing as he only could deal one damage with a attack he would only be stalling her until Chara found the Dreamurrs. Although Alphys already did not think too much of Papyrus a single glare from Toriel would render her paralyzed in any attempts to harm the human. She laughed as she evaded the attacks: “What are you even trying to do, you won't make a dent on me bonehead”. 

“waiting for the royal family to show up, they will not be pleased that you tried to fight their adoptive daughter...” he dodge all over her axes easily. At his wits end he summons gaster blaster, hoping that he may be able to scare her off so he could find his ward, and honestly he was not much of a fighter. He was holding back because he respected her, and did not want to hurt Asriel. Though for her sake he hoped that the Dreamurrs showed up soon because the more he thought about her comment about Sans the less generous he was feeling. She shrunk away from the gaster blaster. Realizing that she would not be able to abide the blaster attacks even with her hp hardly damaged she made her retreat. Scooping up the cinnabon he smirked at the sentiment, and began to transport the way that she had went. He would give it back to her, after surprising her.


	11. Fumes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dreamurrs react to Alphys's actions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy holidays!

Chara bent down wheezing hands on her knees as she tried to slow her racing heart. She had found them. After witnessing the altercation that was occurring through the corners of her eyes she knew she had to find them quickly. It was dire that Toriel and Asgore arrived quickly to stop the battle , although she thought that Papyrus was strong. Strong enough to be given the title of her knight, or guard whatever title felt better at whatever given moment, Alphys appeared to be stronger. Toriel and Asgore looked at her in concern, even ever oblivious Asriel had stopped his nearby frolicking to figure out what was the matter with his sister. “Papyrus...Alphys....” although Chara once again had trouble forcing out the words when she entered a certain level of distress the other Dreamurrs seemed to be able to interpret what she had wanted to say to them.. Asgore leveled a cold glare at Toriel whom had dismissed Chara's earlier worries about the brash lizard guard. Grabbing his wife's and his son's hands he went up to Chara.

“My Child , can you show us where this is happening , I will have a stern talk to Alphys like Toriel should've done earlier. When she first showed up,” Although Asgore no longer glared at his wife there was a unspoken edge in his tone when he had said her name. Most of the monsters did not take what Asgore said seriously because when he had resumed the throne he had made his position on the killing of humans known. He refused to do it. Toriel was the queen though, she would take their souls and break the barrier. Alphys was of the same opinion of his wife, and although she was also but a child she held a strong resolve to destroy the barrier. No matter what that may take. Chara nodded , she could do that. Standing up she almost lost her balance . Dropping the hands of his wife and child he grabbed his adoptive daughter before she could fall. Turning back to his wife and son he said : “Asriel, please do not wonder off...” It was an old request for him to give his typically carefree son , but he hoped it was one he obeyed. Chara with his support began to lead him in the direction that she had came from. Despite her almost falling earlier she pushed to go faster. Her determination was endearing. Even though she had been so scared of Papyrus the day prior she did not want him to be hurt. 

Her worry was displaced as Papyrus soon appeared in front of her, cinnabon in hand. Chara could not stop her momentum and she tumbled into Papyrus. He embraced her gently, though it was not really meant to be an affectionate embrace Chara could feel her face aflame from peer embarrassment once more. Stepping back from her , he offered her the cinnabon that she had left for him with a slight smile on his face. Chara unsure of what to do grabbed it , and pocketed it for later. She would probably need it if the attacks from Alphys were telling. He analyzed her through her awkward return of the food item. Although she was now sweating profusely and donned a red face , she seemed physically OK. He would need to see if the souls were alright, but he would see if he could wait until later when she was not as distressed. He would not want a repeat of the first time that he tried to analyze it without her permission. Redirecting his attention he turned towards a fuming Asgore who held a squirming Asriel and was followed by a downcast Toriel. He had briefly remembered her not thinking that Alphys would go through with attacking Chara because she had a strong sense of honor or something. Alphys did have a have a strong sense of honor and justice, but she believed more than anything that Monsters should be on the surface. She held a grudge against Humans, believing that everything that was bad that had befallen them in the underground was their fault. So therefore she was just in harming a few to wonder the surface. Though she would never express this to Undyne because anime was cool, and apparently anime was the human's history documented in a pretty animation. Undyne really liked humans. “she knows about Frisk, and she wants both of their souls to break the barrier. despite the repercussions it may have on Sans she is somewhere here still in Waterfall, the conversation is detrimental at this point. unless you want her to have a bad time.” Papyrus explained with a brief flashing of his eye to cement his point. Being sure that Chara could not tell by keeping it dim. Alphys had cross a line. Not only Papyrus's but the royal families. Although they did not have a real jail or prison down in the underground it was illegal to threaten a member of the royal family. And although the symbol of the royal family cress was obscured by her hair it was visible in the lighter parts of Waterfall. 

Asgore seemed to fumed more and the thought of his daughters being harmed, and Toriel looked more shameful. “Do you know where she went?” he said in a low growl. Although monster typically respected Queen Toriel more than the king, they did not tend to forget that he possessed a powerful magic. Summoning his trident, he awaited for the skeleton's response. Although he had not watched the lizard monster too much before following his ward he did have a general direction for the king of the monsters.

“she looked as though she was approaching hotland,” he thought about something for a moment, before deciding to let the king in on another detail. She had threaten the existence of his younger brother after all so he did have an excuse to be spiteful in his actions against her besides his guard duty: “she is probably trying to set up another ambush.” The king's face erupted in anger while the queen's erupted in shock. Asriel who seemed to finally recognized the full extent of what was occurring started to weep. He admitted despite him being concerned for the well-being of both Frisk and Chara he could not idolize Alphys no more, he said that he would fight Alphys if it meant that he would be protecting his sisters through choked sobs and whimpers. Chara thanked him and hugged him sincerely as the older Dreamurrs also comforted him. “you know kid that is may job, I might be a lazy bone but i promise you that no harm will come to your sisters” Papyrus said with a wink and a tilt of his head.

“Really... you promise?” Asriel said wiping his tears of his furry face as he began to calm down.

“yes i promise. pinky promise if it makes you feel better or we could shake on it” although he enjoyed pinky promises , Asriel was trying to act more mature to prove to his parents that he would make a good babysitter when Frisk was born. So he opted for a handshake. Papyrus reciprocated the action as their hands met, a large sound that sounded like flatulence sounded throughout the air reverberating throughout the surrounding region of Waterfall for all the inhabitants to hear. The prank broke most of the surrounding tension as Papyrus revealed the trick. The whoopee cushion trick. Asriel giggled as the older Dreamurrs let out a few chuckle, Chara began to laugh hard. Papyrus noticed her laughs and smiled, although they would never be close it would be nice to be amicable.

Now that Asgore was less enraged he made a decision. “Let's go to Alphy's house , even if she spends all day plotting she will eventually go home,” he turned towards his wife. “She listens to you more so than me , so you will need to lead the lecture”. He started to make his way toward the lizard women's house. The main areas of the Underground were rather friendly , everyone knew where everyone lived. Although Chara explored Waterfall there was much left unexplored because of the quick venture into Hotland. They walked for a bit till they came across a oddly scaly house shaped like a hissing lizard. Although they had not come across Alphys on their journey here there was no doubt that they would soon come across her. As they neared Asgore's and Toriel's face shifted to a menacing glare, turning to Papyrus they asked : “We know that you are Chara's guard , but would you mind watching Asriel as well while we handle this.” Papyrus happy that justice was about to be dished out on the lizard agreed quickly. 

The royal herbivore monster knocked loudly on the door, Papyrus was a little shocked when the Lizard actually answered, but one look at the monster shifted her once annoyed expression into one of worry . He did not envy Alphys at the current moment. Although he also did not really want to know what was being said, he would probably bring it up later. Probably the next time that the lizard decided to try to be cute with him. Turning to the younger kids he asked if they wanted to hear a joke about a lizard. Not wanting to hear the now loud yelling that was emitting from Alphy's house they quickly agreed.


	12. Word Play

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Dreamurrs confront Alphys.

She was expecting them. Sure with her own two eyes she had spotted the delta symbol that belong to the royal family upon them, but she still made the decision to attempt to harvest them. She attempted many times, but she did not want to really strike in front of Queen Toriel or Prince Asriel as it was apparent that they had adopted the human. She was even surprised when she noticed Papyrus. The lazy slacker that they all insisted she humor with her company. He was from what she could gather from her long stake-out her guard. He was not a bad choice for such a guard, although he had some if , if not the weakest stats in the underground he was strong. It would only also take one hit to dust him though, so if they were not put off by his powerful magic they may not harm him because monsters do not like to often harm one another. That was not the point she wanted to make though, Papyrus was on the job. One could even call him attentive and aware which was a far cry from the usually drowsy state that she would often find him in on the rare occasion that they would cross paths. Being a Lizard she had a tendency to stay out of Snowdin because reptiles and winter do not mix well usually unless she wanted to enter hibernation until she left Snowdin. Sometimes she would go herself to check the door to the ruins because she knew that Papyrus did a lazy job at most, Undyne would give her these little anime inspired heat packs that would keep her lucid until a certain temperature change occurred. But that was getting off topic once again. As they approached her house she could almost feel the older skeleton giving her a smug grin. Crouching below a window that she hope that they couldn't see her under she contemplated running. But she could not do that. She had claimed to be honorable , but she would not only sacrifice two innocent souls, but a monster as well to break the barrier. If she could not even control her actions , she would face the consequences. Even if it meant that one of her own personal idols would yell at her, and not to mention her demotion for the position that she had strived for her entire life. 

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK 

The noise reverberated around the space of her kitchen dining room mix as before Alphys could reconsider her actions once more she had answered the door. Before her stood two glaring goat monsters towering over her. Alphys had always been rather short, but Asgore and Toriel made her seem more like a mouse. Asgore had a more angered expression with a furrowed brow and a scrunched up nose, she even thought that his fur was standing up like a spooked cat or dog. Despite never seeing Asgore in a battle she would often hear accounts from her late parents about those who had threatened the life of the queen before she was sworn in she would guess that this is what he looked like. Toriel in contrast looked more forlorn, though there were traces of anger in her betrayed sorrowful expression. If Alphys hadn't known what she had done wrong she would have went after the person who had made the queen so sad. From behind the royal couple she could spot the other children. Papyrus stood there with his back towards her facing Chara and Asriel. Upon seeing her Chara immediately wrapped her arms back around her stomach shielding the soul that resided there. Papyrus seemed to noticed this as he somehow prompted both Chara and Asriel to look in the opposite direction. Tilting his head ever so gently he turned so that half of his skull faced her and flashed his eyes in a warning manner at her. He and the human appeared to have something ongoing , if Alphys survived her conversation with the fighting couple she would perhaps attempt to ask him about it. 

“Would you like to come in?” she asked meekly , although her voice was typically loud and exuberant she could not muster the strength to put on that performance right now. Asgore took the words and appeared as though he was going to begin to berate her right then and there. 

As he opened his mouth to begin to speak, Toriel grabbed his hand. “Yes that would be ideal.” Asgore looked somewhat annoyed at his wife, before sighing and simply shaking his head. Although they may say that 'Hell hath no fury like a women scorned' Alphys was beginning to ruminate on whether a enraged Asgore was a close enough second place. Stepping aside she let them in, shutting the door behind them. 

“Would you like anything to drink?” Although she knew that she was in trouble, she still wanted to seem like a good host. Perhaps she could avoid being exiled or a more severe punishment if she was more receptive to them. She had some golden flower tea and other options. Toriel sat but Asgore stood, he seemed to convey anger in every action. This time Toriel could not prevent the explosive outrage from her husband. 

“DO YOU THINK THAT THIS IS SOME SORT OF SOCIAL VISIT ?YOU TRY TO MURDER MY DAUGHTER!” he shot a glare at her that made her flinch. Toriel looked sadder, she had known from past experiences where Toriel had come out to lecture her people that Toriel hated to inflict any sort of pain or punishment on anyone even if it were well deserved. Asgore was very similar except if you messed with anyone that he decided was his family or friends he would have no problem destroying you. There was a legend that circulated when she was young that Asgore once tore up twenty or so humans and monsters that a jilted lover had sent upon Toriel. She was never sure how true that tale was because no one really knew how old the royal couple was, only that Asriel was eleven years old. 

“No...” Alphys did not want to meet their eyes any more so she face her eyes downward. 

“Why did you try to do it Alphys ?” Toriel's words broke the heated silence, although she could not bare to look at them she could hear the disappointment held in her voice.

“Because we need seven humans souls so we could go to the surface, she has two of them.” Alphys attempted to explain her logic , however her explanation made the king yell out again.

“WHY WOULD WE WANT TO GO TO THE SURFACE ? NOT ONLY ARE WE THRIVING HERE. WE WOULD BE DESTROYED BY THE HUMANS IF WE WENT UP THERE! WE ARE OUTNUMBERED BY THEM ! DO YOU KNOW HOW OLD SHE IS?”

The question startled Alphys as she was not really expecting an end to the king's roaring , much less to be expected to answer a question. To be honest she did not even look at the human much , from the short stature and the slim appearance she thought that the human was plenty young. “Fourteen maybe.”

“SHE IS THIRTEEN ,AND YOU SAW HOW SHE HAS TWO SOULS? THAT IS BECAUSE SHE IS PREGNANT. A CHILD AND PREGNANT. THAT WOULD NEVER OCURRED DOWN HERE, EVEN IN THE FARTHEST REGIONS IN THE UNDERGROUND. HUMANS ARE BAD THAT THEY WOULD ENDANGER THEIR OWN CHILDREN FOR PERVERSE PLEASURE...” Asgore appeared to run out of breath. Toriel decided to attempt to illustrate his point better to the ever so violent Alphys.

“It is not worth it to live up there with them. They see monsters and they think demons. We would probably be dust with in hours. Down here they mostly have forgotten our existence. Besides it is selfish to hurt a child for personal gain. You would be no better than the human who did that to her if you attempted to take their souls.” Although Alphys could kind of see their point it would be hard to relinquish her fantasy of seeing the sun with Undyne. Asgore seemed much calmer he planted his palms on the table next to his wife's solemn form. 

“If. You. Ever. Threaten. To. Harm. Any .Of. My. Children. I . Will. Dust . You,” he growled out. Toriel once again placed her hand over his own. This time his looked soften, he wasn't after all that mad at his wife, he was concerned for his children's safety. 

“I am afraid that you will be prohibited from guard duties for awhile, I will tell Gerson to get the dog crew to cover your typical patrol areas. We will bring Chara again soon, and we will expect a proper apology. I will not allow you a second chance regarding this matter. Farewell Alphys.” With that the royal couple exited her bizarrely shaped home. 

They began to chatter among themselves as they walked back to where their children where laughing at a joke that Papyrus was regaling them with . 

“She probably won't be the only one.”

“Lets make her known then, we should probably let them know the consequences for trying to harm her. We could introduce her to everyone”

“Who should we introduce her to first then?” 

“Undyne...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I wrote Underswap Alphys out of character , but bare with me she is going to get better.


	13. Opaque

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introducing the future royal scientist, the upcoming star.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nastablook equals Napstation in Underswap .

It was not too long after the Dreamurrs had exited the lizard inspired house that they begun a new conversation with Chara . She had long ceased the protective motion of wounding her arms around her stomach. Although Papyrus initially unnerved her she could begin to feel comfort in his presence. At first she was admittedly completely unsure of his required devotion and his mannerisms. Seeing his reaction to how Alphys attacked and his treatment of her washed her fears away of any of his malice being directed at her. 

“Chara. We want to prevent any other prominent monsters from attacking you , so instead of finishing our journey to New Home , we are going to have a meeting with some of them to deter further incidents, OK?” Toriel broached the subject careful to make sure that she did not somehow hurt the child. Chara nodded, and Toriel embrace the three children in a odd hug. Papyrus stiffened clearly he was not expecting the embrace from the queen of monsters, but he somewhat relaxed into it. Asriel in contrast threw himself wholeheartedly into the hug. Chara accepted it without any resistance leaning into the small huddle of monsters. They now walked in a small strange formation that occasionally Asriel broke to check stuff out for a small duration of time. Somehow the curious goat child made himself refrain from going on long detours which was impressive for him. He seemed to be really taking the vow seriously. They went back into Waterfall, although Chara had to admit that she was bit confused because she had explored most of it and hadn't met anyone who held or was going to hold a notable position there. Toriel guided her to a previously unseen direction. In a meadow like section of the dim portion of the underground there it stood. A previously unseen metallic building that glimmered like a silver fish in a stream directly in sunlight . 

Although she was very nervous to enter the building as she was not accustomed to buildings like this even when was on the surface and visited the bigger towns with her old family to get food. Due to the urging of her new family and Papyrus she decided to comply with their request. She stepped in the building after them , the interior of the odd building did not match the odd outside. It seem much more modern than most of the underground ,but it was not shiny or anything. There appeared to be a huge TV screen next to a small fridge and a table that was littered with various items. Upon closer inspection of the monitored she realized it was her. Slightly surprised at the discovery she whipped around to face the noise that seemed to be coming from the upper portion of the lab accessible by stairs that were further down the walkway. There a tall fish monster women stood panicking as she tied her hair up into a messy ponytail that seemed slightly wet. Her clothes seemed slightly dirty and wrinkled, but Chara was never really one to point this out to anyone, it wasn't really any of her business after all.

“I haven't cleaned up or anything, everything is a mess!” The young fish women quietly despaired perhaps unaware of the new guest that had decided to show up for a surprise meeting. As she took notice of her new company she quieted down. She seemed to be just as nervous as Chara felt, and it was somewhat of a nice surprise. 

“Your Majesty , I am so sorry that you had to witness that , a-and how much of a m-m-mess this place is... Um c-can I interest you in any- or what brings you over today?” She seemed to be really unsure about what to say, and had a certain difficulty committing to a sentence once she began to say it. 

“Hello Undyne, we are sorry to come over so unexpected. We wanted to introduce you to Chara, who is our new adoptive daughter.” Toriel calmly explained. This was a much different experience than the one that she had experience with Alphys. Asgore nudge her forward, and Chara extended a hand. Undyne seemed flustered. 

“Oh. He-, Hi , I'm Undyne I am next in line for position of Royal Scientist, or more like Gaster's assistant . W-W-Which you probably know since Papyrus is here,” she waved at Papyrus before making eye contact with the same monitor that still somehow held Chara's image within it's electronic grasp. “I-um I have k-k-kinda been w-w-watching you since you c-came out of the ruins with the r-royal family. N-Not because I thought y-y-you were dangerous , or b-b-because I wanted to taker y-your soul or a-a-anything like that, we just don't get a lot of humans down here. So your really interesting,” Undyne seemed to stumble throughout her speech. If she had noticed Frisk she did not really want to bring it up, which after all the threats that she had face already didn't really bother Chara too much. “I-I-I know it m-might sound k-k-kinda bad, but I built a robot friend a while back, and he is ummmm eager to m-m-met a human” she had looked down as though to hide her eyes from her unexpected guest. “I-I-I am going to call him really quick. If that is OK with y-you he is r-r-really p-popular in the underground”.

She scurried up the stairs , and Toriel and Asgore shared a knowing glance. Papyrus approached to stand right next to the human girl and Asriel explored the contents of her fridge and table. The brief sound of Undyne saying 'no no no' echoed faintly throughout the small lab and then a metallic boom echoed from one of the walls. This prompted Undyne to run back down the stairs. “Napstation this is a bad idea, please don't do it” the fish begged her friend? But it did not stop him from eventually breaking down the wall. A box with a bunch of tiny blue screens somehow rolled forward from the new hole in the way. Arms and odd music boxes with a hat popped out from his sides and head respectively.   
He took notice of the humans and the royal couple. Undyne was sweating bullets, which was a bit odd for a fish Chara thought. 

“Hello lovely Queen Toriel, and King Asgore. My Stars it is the sweet prince Asriel, and who might you be” He drive around shaking hands before stopping in front of Chara bowing ever so slightly and glancing up at her grabbing her hand and touching it to his odd screen it was almost as if he was imitating a kiss on the hand. Like in Asriel's old fairy tale books that they had given her. Although this somewhat flustered Chara who had never had a romantic interaction , it irritated Papyrus. If Chara started a romantic relationship with a monster, she might begin to sneak around. Preventing him from doing his job, and possibly leading to horrid possiblilites that begun with his brother being eternally depressed to his brother dying of heartbreak. Neither of which where futures that Papyrus wished to take part in. 

“she is my ward” he nearly growled out, but kept it to a relaxed tone that did not convey his annoyance. 

“Oh , a pleasant surprise to see you again Papyrus.” The flamboyant robot sarcastically said as he regarded Papyrus. Papyrus did not like the robot he could never really put his phalanges on it , but the robot really grated his gears. A similar dislike of the rude skeleton teen was requited by the robot, although he got on with Gaster swimmingly , he did not with Papyrus. 

“Chara , how would you like to take part of a quiz. Although the stipulations originally included death, nothing will happen if you answer wrong. After all it is a way to introduce the audience to you” a previously unnoticed camera that was following Napstation. Although Asgore , Toriel, and Papyrus were extremely hesitant to allow Chara to take part of this little game show , if no direct harm came to her there would be no risk. It may also prove to be a good way to introduce the rest of the underground to Chara. Chara although unsure of Napstation's true intent with her or Frisk was happy enough at his reception towards her , and after shooting a look at her parents decided to agree to do the games shows. 

“First question is it true that you are a human?”

“Yes”. A minor dinging sound echoed from the small camera. 

“Correct , is it true that you are adopted by the royal family ?” Napstation happily questioned. 

“Yes, it is” Chara spoke more words, not wanting to come off as standoffish towards the population of the underground. The dinging sound occurred once more. 

“ Correct, is it true that a certain skeleton has been appointed as your royal knight?” Napstation asked with a look of false curiosity because he already knew the answer.

“Yes, that is true.” The dinging sound occurred once again. 

“Correct, lastly ….,” a serious silence interrupted his question. He ripped the paper in two before discarding it by letting both pieces fall to the ground. He cheerily turned to the camera “You heard it here first folks, that concludes this segment of the Napstation show, next up we have a schedule cooking segment.. Ta- Ta” he flipped the camera off. He turned towards the family as if wanting to ask something, but instead opted to fly through the ceiling much to the shock of the room's occupants. 

Undyne quickly picked the littered papers up before dropping them in a bin nervously, she laughed anxiously and said “I-I-Is there anything else you need?”. Somewhat satisfied the royal family told her no and left. Curious to the true last question her heart sank, and she felt pity for the kind human that Alphys tried to harm. She had contacted Alphys through texting to tell her not to, but once Alphys set her mind to something it was really hard to talk her out of it.: ' Is it true that you are thirteen and pregnant?”.


	14. Shadows in a Darken Room

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some filler, I am starting uni this fall and a lot of the papers I have been requesting since before summer finally came in today . I hope you enjoy today's little chapter.

After what seemed like an almost unending journey they had finally made it. New Home seemed to be magnificent from a distance , but once inside it seemed that all the color tried to escape outward. Dull and gray Chara pondered if it was a result of being so close to the barrier. Papyrus lagged behind further, he seemed tired as if he never walked this much. Although Chara also found the hike to be quite exhausting her family was sure to take plenty of breaks, not wishing to overwork Chara. After traversing many monochrome streets they made it to a dull looking home that resembled the lodge in the ruins. Upon opening the door Chara was not surprise to find a similar looking set up to the one in the ruins. A tugging on her sleeve drove her attention to Asriel as he insisted on showing her where their new room was. Twin beds greeted her as she noticed a room fit for two. Many mementos and toys decorated Asriel's side of the room : stuff bears, a toy chest, and some posters. Although Chara stood taking it all in a buzz alerted Papyrus to the insistent beeping of his phone. There were a few messages from Gaster, as well as some from a few other monsters. What really drew his attention was the one from Undyne . 

Undyne : Hey does the human have a phone 

Papyrus : i'll ask

Shifting to Chara and Asriel he decided to ask Chara if she had a phone because Undyne was apparently interested in talking to her. Although Papyrus was concerned about Chara's safety he figured there was no real danger with letting her have a social media or something. Asriel had one. If a monster decided to attempt to threaten her they would be subject to an audience with either the king and queen or Papyrus. Either or would potentially discourage such actions in the future.

“hey Chara?” 

“y-yeah” he had caught them off guard when he had appeared from somewhere behind them. Whirling around she faced him.

“do you have a phone?” Chara was a little caught off guard. He never really started spontaneous conversation from the brief time that Chara had known him. Pulling out the old one that Asgore had given her for contacting them in emergencies Chara handed it over figuring that he was probably needing to call someone for some reason. He gently refused. 

'y'know Undyne? welp she wanted to know if you had one. if you want her number let minnow” he shrugged not really knowing how to bring it up on the human so suddenly. Chara lit up , she was always happy to talk to new people. Although she could not say that she had many open enemies that she really knew about besides Alphys, she could use many more welcoming faces here in the underground. Without zero hesitation she asked for the number. Similar to that she dialed the number on the old beat up cell phone and raised it to her ear. 

Somewhere in the middle of a anime session in a dark lab the phone rang with the lyrics of the Woof Woof Punching Hottie theme song. Pausing the show she lifted the phone to her face. A unknown number. Although Undyne did not answer many of these preferring to let the phone ring until it went to voice mail to see who it was, she was feeling brave. After the latest episode where it was revealed that the protagonist's friends thought that her ears were cute ,and despite the protagonist's hatred for her ears that she was born with because she was bullied for them she was filled with a sense of confidence which led to her beating the bad guy. 

“H—H-Hello?” she answered the phone somewhat surprised the she did not have the option of a face call. Not that she wanted to use it but it increased her nerves when she did not even have the option openly available.

“Greetings Undyne !” The cheery voice of the human greeted her. Undyne was surprised, Chara had come off as very reserved so the sudden happy greeting caught her off guard.

“O-Oh Chara , i-its you. I-um know I f-f-forgot because of Napstation ,and all but I-I-I,” Undyne could feel the sweat building as it cascaded down her face. She thought about hanging up , but she had to do it. “Wanted to trade phone numbers,..., which we did now, soo” Now that Undyne had gotten her number she did not know what else to do. She had been curious before , she really wanted to interrogate the human. She loved anime and manga, and would spend days with the red guards collecting all the manga that she could find in the dump. The other friends that she didn't really hang out with too much anymore made her slightly sad again. She had missed something that Chara said due to her rampant and wild emotions. “I'm sorry w-w-what did you say Chara?”

“Oh I just asked if that was all that you needed?” Chara asked somewhat shyly as she twisted her foot slightly on the ground. She was completely absorbed into the call as short as it might have been. Although Papyrus kept a eye on her throughout it, he began a small punny conversation with the kid. He would leave soon to go home, he wanted to see his own little brother. Before that he had more work related business with Napstation first, he had already run it by the Dreamurrs who wanted to be sure that there would be no emotional ,physical , or soul harm done to Chara. Although he had known from Gaster telling him before that Undyne and Napstation met through a human fan club , he had know way of knowing how the possibility of being famous could shake his interests. 

“W-W-Would you like to have a a-a-anime session with m-m-me? The main character of the show has dog ears, and gets bullied because of it, but then her friends tell her that they like them and she could punch or lick people to gain control of them ,and she beats the bad gu- oh I kind of spoiled it...” Undyne really enjoyed the show. Although she had initially planned on befriending the human by helping her against Napstation she could make it work. She hoped..

“Oh Undyne I would love too! Let me ask my parents.” Chara bolted to the kitchen to the confusion of the other two in the room engaged in a different conversation. Asgore prepared dinner as Toriel sipped tea: “Mom ,Dad , Undyne invited me to watch anime with her . Can I go ?” 

“Tomorrow , but you have to take Papyrus” telling Undyne her parent's answer she ended her phone call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to keep with the tone of Underswap which is swapping everything. So somehow' Mew Mew Kissy Cutie' became 'Woof Woof Punching Hottie'. I thought about making' punching' 'licking' but that seems a bit out of place I guess. IMO Saliva isn't a good super hero power unless it could melt or heal stuff, certainly not very sanitary either I guess.


	15. Bland

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus meets with Napstation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi,  
> Another busy day . My friend is supposed to be on a podcast so I wrote most of this while listening to that waiting for him to pop up, the quality may not be the best today.

He exited the house. Although nearly everyone in the underground knew that he could teleport he always felt better if he could do it out of sight. He guess that it not only made for a cool entrance; randomly popping up within seconds in the underground, but it made a seamless exit. If he ever had any pursuers that would be dumbfounded when he left a cold untraceable trail. Walking into a nearby alley he reappeared in another. Careful not too make too much noise that would attract the attention of the nearby red guards who were selling trash, he entered NTT hotel. Although it would be a slight gamble figuring out the exact location of Napstation it would have to be done. Figuring that he was probably somewhere in his sweet considering it was now rather late he made his way inconspicuously to the right side of the hotel. He went to the room Napstation had claimed as his. Although Napstation was growing in popularity the hotel was reluctant to go through a full transformation yet. Knocking he heard a voice call out : “I am not accepting visitors at the moment , please come back another time!”.

Letting out a slight sigh he typed out a quick message to his father that he would be a little late getting home tonight, not only did he have his own confrontation for Napstation he had Asgore's and Toriel's who wanted Chara's safety to be abundantly emphasized. Although he did not typically recede from an inevitable confrontation he considered it this time. 

“the queen and king are not fond of rejection.” he deliberated saying anything else, but that seemed to do the trick as a rectangular robot who now donned a green face mask and cucumber slices on his screen threw open the door. 

“Your majesties, I am terribly sorry about the not coming sooner, and giving out such a rude response. I -” he looked around confused as said lack of Toriel and Asgore before directing what seemed like a glare at Papyrus. “Why are you here?” he asked in a confused tone. They had never really cross paths for long usually preferring to leave the other alone. 

“On request of the royal couple. They wish for me to find out your intentions regarding Chara.” he stated. If this ended with a door in his face he had a hand written note from Asgore to talk to him , that he was supposed to give to the receptionist. Asgore and Toriel preferred Papyrus to verify that there was no harm intended for Chara and Frisk in person, as he would deal with any threats swiftly without any one in the crossfire.

“They have changed. I was going to be a antagonistic character for Chara to face off against so that Undyne could team up with her. Undyne really likes that weird comic book , so she wanted to forge a friendship with the human that mimicked one of the ones in it. I saw that Chara was …. so I decided that I didn't want to do it. I do not want to harm humans. I in fact wish to live among them some day , to become a star to them. I want to also befriend Chara.” although Napstation usually annoyed Papyrus , he had to admit that the robot was incredibly earnest about what he was now saying. 

“that is good, although i cannot personally admit to being a fan i can say ewe would not like going to Asgore's chats about his children and family...” Papyrus thought about pulling out a cigarette but that would drag on too long. “ the royal couple want you to introduce Chara to the underground though there is a few stipulations,” he observed the robots reaction. The robot seemed to be genuinely excited at the thought of the human on his show for a longer period of time. A cooking show would be a cute idea. Before the robot could really get lost in his thoughts and ideas about future shows Papyrus continued : “There is no harm to come to the human in any compacity. There is no making out the human to be excessively negative. Lastly although it is very apparent that Chara is pregnant, it makes her slightly uncomfortable to talk about her age and her pregnancy so Asgore and Toriel want to keep it to a down-low. Also never threaten her. If I think she is in the slightest bit of danger I will jump in and you don't want that” Papyrus at some point in the conversation let his eyes change into voids. Although Napstation would not want to admit it , it somewhat scarred him. “if you get that than it is all good, contact me for any more details that you may need”. Without waiting for too much of a answer he once again began to make his way down the hallway , instead this time disappearing in the direction of the elevator. 

As he appeared in his room he felt utterly exhausted but he was eager to see Sans and Gaster after a long day. Exiting his room he made his way down the stairs developing an ever so noticeably slouch as he descended. Gaster who was fussing over a crying Sans who was throwing food off of his high chair. Dinner appeared to be tacos this night. Gaster noticed the slouch immediately and began to reprimand him before shuffling him to sit down and placing a warm plate of tacos in front of him. The tacos were good like most of the food that Gaster prepared. With a minuscule glance towards Sans Papyrus pondered if Sans would be a good cook when he got older. Gaster began to ask him about his day, Gaster himself was not currently working. If he were Papyrus would not be sure if Undyne would retain her anime haven. 

“How did your first day as a guard go?” Gaster eagerly asked him. 

“good” Papyrus answered him between bites .

“Did you end up scaring her again?” Gaster looked at in a teasing manner at him as he asked this. He knew Papyrus would be careful not to frighten her again. 

“no, but I fought Alphys today, and almost Napstation” Papyrus carefully said, he did not want Gaster finding out later from someone else. Gaster did not like withheld information. 

“Did you do it on purpose” Gaster questioned in response to the new information. Truthfully he could have predicted Alphys attempting to harvest Chara's and Frisk's soul. But he did not think that Papyrus would have almost fought Napstation. He also did not really get why Napstation and Papyrus did not get along as they both seemed to be nice teenagers, but he did not want to be one of those overbearing parents so he did not really push it. 

“nah , Alphys try to harvest their souls. and Napstation provoke the curiosity of the Dreamurrs. Chara is probably going to star on his show soon with him” Papyrus try to explain more in depth but it proved challenging as he wanted to eat. 

“Oh. That sounds like it might be a good idea, introduce Chara to the general public and when Frisk comes they won't try as hard to take her soul.” Gaster now understood the Dreamurrs logic of exposing Chara to more monsters. Finally finishing dinner Papyrus grabbed Sans and went to Sans's room to tuck him into bed and read him a bed time story with some luck it would put Sans straight to bed until morning. Gaster who was quite relieved at the off time went to begin his own work. Despite being off work Gaster had what one might call an overactive imagination. It never quite shut itself off and would often keep him up for long sleepless nights. He had been inspired, and with a sardonic grin he spread the paper out to glimpse at the blue sheet. As he set off for working deep into the night to be remedied in the morning with several ultra caffeinated cups of coffee. Papyrus had put Sans to sleep and made his way to his own room ready to indulge a night of heavy sleep.


	16. Rush Hour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The start of the next day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is late, life keeps me busy despite the quarantine.

The timer rang. Eyes wearily opened up before closing half way again. Skeletal legs swung over his bed and he evaded tiny piles of garbage as he made his way out the door. Though Papyrus was never much of a coffee person, usually preferring to down honey, he could go for a cup today. He made his way to the kitchen. The familiar scene of Gaster spooning food in Sans's mouth warmed Papyrus's soul as he poured himself a quick cup of the dark roast that Gaster enjoyed so much. He would not have much time to savor a meal because he said that he would be at the Dreamurrs's house in a few minutes. Though Papyrus could wake up early to enjoy the homemade meal that Gaster would whip up , he would never skip out on extra sleep. Grabbing toast like one of Undyne's school girls from her weird human cartoon he went over to talk to Gaster and Sans. 

He apparently caught Gaster by surprise as both his multicolored eyes opened in a startled expression. As Gaster turned to look at him his expression shifted to a quick annoyance: “Your wearing that again?”. Gaster was referring to his favorite pair of brown cargo pants, and his orange hoodie and shoes. 

“they are my favorites,” he retorted back in a similar fashion to the style of clothes that he wore. Sans seemed to get agitated the same way that Gaster did not plucking at stray folds in his hand and pulling at it. Papyrus chuckled lifted a hand to stroke the top of Sans's smooth cranium. 

“Just because you are so lazy does not mean that you shouldn't wear other things Papyrus! To think all those clothes I bought for you. I certainly hope that Sans does not take up your habit!” Gaster seemed to notice the time in the middle of his rant. Luckily Papyrus had finished his meal in the duration of said rant. “Now get to work, do not keep the princess waiting for too long”. With a slight smile he watched as his oldest dissipated into thin air turning his attention to feeding his youngest son. As food dribbled down his chin and onto his pajamas Gaster thought fondly out loud to himself: “at least I can change your clothes.”

Papyrus reappeared in the same alley that he he originally used to leave the Dreamurrs's house yesterday. Navigating his way back to the home from this starting point, he pondered briefly as he stood in front of the door way on whether or not he should knock or not before deciding to tap lightly on the wooded door. Although it may had only been a few seconds it seems as though the Dreamurrs were in a race to reach the door. Asgore opened it standing besides Toriel were they ones whom reached it first to the disappointment of Asriel. In contrast to the monster part of the family ,Chara stood in the distance as if a little scared at the possibility of who may have been at the door. She looked as though she just woke up . Her light brown hair appeared frizzy and her red eyes seemed to be glazed over in a tired expression. He wondered if the Dreamurrs kept any coffee around. They cheerfully invited him in, and once Chara had figured out it was just him she appeared to go back to a relatively carefree manner. Asgore similar to Gaster often cooked large homemade meals, he seemed to be completing the process of cooking breakfast when Papyrus had arrived. The family sat down at the table to eat, and Papyrus took the time to send a few messages to Gaster. He was surprised to find out that Napstation had messaged him through social media. Although Papyrus didn't post much on the account it was hard to mistake anyone's idenity.

Napstation – Hey Papyrus , in regards to you visit. I would very much enjoy letting Chara guest star on my show. And I agree to the said stipulations. Please let the king and queen know as I am very eager to work with her in the near future. 

Napstation- And FYI be more courteous to your next host. Not all are as understanding as me darling~

Papyrus could feel his teeth slightly grinding at the tone that Napstation had put into his second message. The Dreamurrs appeared to be engaged in their own conversation at the moment , so Papyrus quickly decided to forward the message to the queen and king through their own phone numbers. The conversation had come to a lull as Toriel and Asgore checked their buzzing phones. Deciding to interject in the calm quiet Papyrus decided to explain the message. “he has agreed to the conditions put in place , i met with him yesterday as requested.”. Toriel and Asgore nodded their heads in a gesture of understanding. Turning their attention to Chara , they set forth to explain to their adoptive daughter what exactly was happening. 

“Hey Chara , do you remember Napstation ?” Chara swallowed the current mouthful that she had nodding eagerly. She liked Napstation because he hadn't tried to kill or scare her when they had met. 

“Yeah. The robot from yesterday?” she answered her parents.

“Yes, him. He runs a TV show down here. He wants to know if you want to be in a few shows to introduce you to the Underground.” Chara had never really though much about TV or being a TV star. Prior to the downhill turn that her life took her family could not afford a TV or really any electronics. The idea of being popular and a star although odd was somewhat appealing to the young girl. She shyly nodded her head unsure of what to really say. Toriel chuckled at her daughter's sudden shyness, although Chara had definitely been more solemn she seemed to be quickly growing out of her shell. She definitely was a interesting child. 

As Chara finished her breakfast she went to get ready. Today was the day that she was going to watch the 'anime' with Undyne. Although she didn't really know what a anime or manga was she was very eager to see them. Papyrus stood waiting for her by the front door, he lazily surfed through his phone as he waited. Waving wildly to her parents , shouting a 'good-bye' to them she grabbed Papyrus's bony hand and nearly raced out the door with him. Papyrus managed to put his phone away in record time as they traversed across various streets in New Home. Quickly though it became apparent that Chara was somewhat lost, she panted slightly as she slowed down to look around. Papyrus calmly looked at her with only a slight bead of sweat running down her face. “ewe got to be more careful. some would say that your jumping the run.” he joked lightly with her. 

In response her face flushed red “Quiet you bonehead, do you know the way to the lab?”. She also was joking. 

He grabbed her hand with a quiet “yep” and began to lead her out of New Home. Using a few non magical shortcuts they made it to the lab. Knocking on the door they were not too surprised to see a flustered Undyne. Undyne ushered them to a couch where she presented Chara with a wide variety of instant noodles and other snacks. Among them was a bottle of honey , which Papyrus thought was probably a way to keep him entertained during the anime fest. Though Papyrus did not really act on this, instead choosing to sit next to Chara on the odd foldable couch. 

Let the anime session begin he thought.


	17. Glazed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anime binge time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, somehow I got to this earlier than normal I hope that you enjoy this.

The girls sat seated on the violet folding couch , Undyne fussing over various details in the arrangement of the snack and the video list. Papyrus settled in for a light nap next to Chara before a question directed toward Chara captured his attention. “H-Hey Chara Sub or Dub?” . Undyne held a remote up to the TV, which was the only source of light in the dim lab. 

“What is the difference?” Chara asked . She did not know because TV was never really an indulgence she could partake in, not even after she got adopted by the Dreamurrs. In both of the Dreamurrs's homes there was not a TV , instead Asgore and Toriel preferred to stress reading to their children. 

“O-O-Oh ,well sub is the a-a-anime in it's original language with w-w-writing in so the v-viewer can u-understand what is going on. D-D-Dub on the other hand is a-a-anime is our language. T-T-This is a pretty c-controversial i-issue in the f-fandom f-f-from what I have seen, b-b-but I am good watching whichever one you want to.” Undyne explained the difference making several hand motions. This anime was something that one could see that she cared deeply about.

“I am ...still learning to read, so I think dub sounds like a better option. Thank you.” Chara nodded and thanked Undyne while Undyne put the corresponding DVD into the TV. Not even a few moments later the room erupted in a annoying loud enthusiastic theme song and a flurry of bright colors emanating from the TV Screen. Papyrus decided that he would return back to his light nap , but he was again brought back to full awareness at Chara nudging the bottle of honey into his hand. His phalanges met her fingers for a split second before the light touch was gone and she was taking in the scene of a girl with puppy ears getting bullied by much more regular classmates. His skeletal face sank into a grin as the sweet gesture occurred, and he decided that even if he did not care for the aesthetically drawn cartoon show that he would watch it with the girls. 

He was quite surprised when the story began to pick-up and the protagonist began to take on the role of a part-time hero while she was attending high school. Although he could not claim that the show was really his cup of honey , he watched it even when his bottle emptied. When the alarm on his phone rang alerting him that it was time that he began to walk Chara back to the Dreamurrs household he had to admit he was somewhat sad that the mundane activity was coming to an end. The lights flickered back on somewhat hurting his eye lights, Chara too seemed to rub her eyes in a drowsy sort of way. He stood from the couch and he could feel several of his joints popping from being in one place for too long, for a moment he stood there stretching. Chara also mimicked this activity. He thought to ask why until he realized that she also contained a skeleton within her body. He had at least remembered that from human class. Undyne got up with them , thanking them for stopping over and spending time with her. Although many monsters made a hobby out of collecting human relics, none seem to enjoy the weird cartoons except for Undyne. Alphys and Napstation would sometimes watch them with her from what Papyrus could remember , but no one compared to Undyne. Undyne escorted them to the door . 

“C-Can we do t-t-th-his again sometime ?” the words managed to stumble out somehow , and Chara responded in a very excited manner at the thought of having another anime binge. Although she was new to the concept it was a quickly beloved one. Chara in a rush though, not really wanting to make her parents worry asked if they could do it again sometime. Undyne's eyes widen as she witness the relic of a phone, since she was the royal scientist's assistant surely she could get away with a few upgrades. “C-C-Can I u-u-upgrade your p-p-phone?”. Undyne was not really planning on asking today , however the words slipped out before she could give them any further contemplation. She glanced to Papyrus's face, his relative indifference told her that she was probably fine for now. 

“Yes , you could” by some miracle Chara actually agreed to her offered. Grabbing the phone she made major alterations ; a keyboard, internet, social media. Surprising it did not take long, though there were some rather bizarre noises coming from the direction that Undyne disappeared to. Undyne cursed Gaster out mentally in her mind as she hastily made her work finished. Gaster had a rather odd sense of humor, although he made puns and jokes like his son Papyrus, he also like to pull pranks and practical jokes on other monsters. He had been working on this on the day before he took his maternal leave , when Undyne found out out that some of the machines made screaming sounds, she had wanted to confront him. But her anxiety made that somewhat impossible. Who really wanted to confront their boss over something so trivial? 

When she came back out , the pair stood by the door. Papyrus held a somewhat smug smirk look on his face while Chara looked confused. With a quick unshuttering tone she muttered : “Gaster,” before handing the phone back to Chara. Chara took in all the changes made to her device , before she could thank Undyne the scientist began to explain all of alterations she had made. “S-So you have a keyboard now, s-so you can send messages. I also s-s-signed you up for social m-m-media , and f-friended you there so we c-could talk there t-too.” 

“Thank you, but what is a social media?” Chara asked. Papyrus thought about answering the question , but Undyne seemed to be a on a roll. 

“S-S-Social media is a place where you can be s-social with m-monster virtually...”Undyne did not really know how to explain it any better, but luckily Chara seemed to get it. 

“Oh , thank you a lot Undyne. I look forward to our next anime session.” she turned to leave back home with Papyrus in tow. Before they could leave Undyne spoke once more. 

“W-W-Wait Papyrus!,” he turned around to look at Undyne. “C-C-Can you tell the K-K-King and Q-Q-Queen tha- never mind” she seemed to be trying to muster the courage to say something. Sweat began to form on the side of the fish monster's face. He turned to Chara , who seemed to be insitant on figuring out what her new monster pal was attempting to get at. “A-A-A-Alphys says t-t-that she i-is r-ready to m-m-make a-amends.” Undyne now seemed ready to bolt. Chara face contorted into a expression consisting of concern and fear. 

Papyrus placed a bony arm around her shoulders before responding: “i will,” he and Chara made their way out of the lab and onto the darkened path home. The further that they got the more Chara's expression changed to a glum fear, and she began to wind her arms around herself again. Papyrus admittedly was out of his general element again ,but he decided to try and distract her from the fear that Alphys's name must have evoked. “don't worry , pea happy” he punned lightly at her commenting on the fact that her love of green often made her appear as some sort of vegetable. Chara remained downcast as she continued the pace with Papyrus , not saying a word in retort as she usually does. “kiddo , ewe know that your parents and i will be there the next time that you have to see her right?” inserting puns as he always did to lighten moods seemed to slowly be working. 

“ I am scared. I know that Asgore and Toriel must have said something to her because she hasn't tried to come after me since, but what if she waits till everyone's guard is down.” Chara explained calmly. Although she was feeling afraid she was able to voice her concerns without some sort of emotional break down. Papyrus knew how much Undyne cared for Alphys , but he kind of wish she would had privately messaged him or something. 

Closing his eyes he thought of what to say for a moment before reopening them: “i promise that i won't let her do anything to you or Frisk,” he decided not to joke around in the opening of his sentence. He did not want Chara to think that he maybe mocking her fear or anything “besides i am made of sternum stuff than most tooth be told”. Chara giggled at the jokes finally letting up after being reassured that Alphys would not harm her. 

“You are such a lazybones though , you almost fell asleep at Undyne's lab. You are making me jaw a blank though about your puns.” Chara joked back . The mood went back to a light one as Papyrus lead her into back into New Home to where her adoptive parents where now about to serve dinner. Although they offered Papyrus some he declined, insisting that he would eat dinner when he returned home tonight. He would have to bring it up though before he could leave.


	18. Redress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alphys wants to apologize, and makes big efforts to do so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy.

He stood there silent as he contemplated how to bring up the issue. Although he had declined the seat at the dinner table he could not yet leave. Since Chara had been there when Undyne brought up the current issue of Alphys Papyrus would not have to deal with much backlash or flare-ups from her. However the Dreamurrs were not only notorious for being the royal couple, but also being supremely protective of their own. Though this typically extended to the whole of the monster species it also would now extend to their adoptive daughters. He would not be hasty in approaching this conversation ,but he could also not waste too much time. Not only was Gaster expecting him home soon for dinner, the Dreamurrs's irritation would also increase if he held off until to-marrow or some other time. Eventually though he did not have to start the guaranteed award conversation as Asgore had noticed his stilted silence. “Papyrus, is something the matter?”. Despite the king being seated at the table he still towered over the other occupants in the room. Papyrus may be taller than him in a few year , but for now he was still a foot shorter than him. Asgore held his fork as though he was preparing to take another bite of the meal in front of him, but the silence signaled that the dinner was halted for a few moments. 

Finally feeling the nerve to speak Papyrus started: “Undyne says that Alphys is ready to apologize...,” although he did not often feel the need to emphasize any of his words in a way that may indicate the start of sentence or a conversation , this was a particularly significant conversation. As he predicted when Undyne first spoke to him on the matter , Asgore was not pleased. The grip on his silverware tightened to the point where it developed a strain visible only under careful inspection. His face scrunched up in an expression of vexation. Toriel also held a face of clear worry, fretfully she glanced at her children. Chara held a soft expression of alarm , as both of her eyebrows were raised high upon her face. Despite this though she said nothing. Asriel also held a smudge of concern , and he tried to reach for his sister's sleeve though stopped himself midway. He shot Toriel a look that said : 'should I take her to our room'. Chara stared hard at her empty plate, not wanting to notice the world. Toriel eyeing this behavior nodded frantically at her son, who began to nudge Chara from her seat and lead them to their shared bedroom. Although Chara and Asriel lived in a shared room for now ,another room was under construction that Chara and Frisk would share.

Now that Chara was out of the room , Asgore requested in a quiet but severe tone for Papyrus to have a seat at the table. Papyrus regardless of the disconcerting feeling that Asgore was giving him obeyed his request. Taking Chara's old seat at the table, he sat directly across from the royal couple.   
“So did Undyne bring this up in front of Chara ?” he asked with a look of masked indifference. One could see the anger boiling up from the façade if they knew Asgore for long enough. 

“yes she did...Chara did not take it the best. but i do not think that she wants Undyne to get into trouble for evoking fears that she didn't know about.” Papyrus spoke with a calm voice, not wanting to upset the king further. Asgore bare his teeth for a second and almost seemed prepared to launch into a tirade or something, but a furred hand resting upon his stopped it . He glanced at Toriel who spoke with a calm soothing voice. 

“He did not know that Undyne was going to bring Alphys up, it is not his fault. You did say that you expected Alphys to apologize to Chara soon. It is also not Undyne's fault that Alphys chose to ask her to bring it up to us. They were just the messengers.” Although they were beloved by the entirety of the underground, Toriel was known for being a bit more rational with her thoughts. While Asgore was more of the emotional type. Together they made a fantastic duo for being the representation of Monster-kind. Although Asgore was quite worked up earlier with the thoughts of anyone attempting to harm his family , Toriel calmed him down. 

“I'm sorry Papyrus , it is just that she threatened my family. I do not place any blame on you for this matter.” he explained calmly . His face regained its composure and rested in a neutral expression as he now awaited for Papyrus's response to his explanation for his rampant behavior. 

Papyrus of course could emphasize with the anger that came from having one of his family members threatened by the raging lizard women: “its no problem, she threatened my family too...”. Papyrus explained with his usual casual manner. Asgore chuckled and thanked him for his telling them about Alphys . 

“You remember Napstation , we decided that we are going to schedule an episode with him the day after Chara gets evaluated by Gaster, her next appointment is in about a week and a half. Chara was telling us that she got a new phone upgrade during dinner. So the next time she wants to go somewhere she'll send you a text.” Asgore told him. Papyrus decided that since he told him what he wanted to since he return from Undyne's lab that he would return home to join Gaster and Sans with dinner. Perhaps he could watch a show or movie before bed time with Sans. As he bid them a 'farewell' and a 'good night' he decided that he would take his new normal way home. As he approached the alley he spotted Alphys's guards walking towards the home. Catty and Bratty were Alphy's second in command , and although they typically patrolled everywhere that Alphys could not go in a day they were not as hellbent on killing humans as she was. Though because she told them to , they would do it. On their back though they held a huge box. He did not know what is the box, despite his shift ending he decided that following them would not hurt. He pulled his hoodie over his head and began to teleport into alleys that the would quickly pass by. The were heading to the Dreamurrs house, and although he did not think any would be dumb enough to go to the king's house to challenge him , the speech patterns that Bratty and Catty used did not help them too much. 

“Like , this is sooo heavy why does she want us to take this to their house again?” Bratty loudly complained as she carried her end of the box. 

“Because like , Alphys totally offended Asgore when she like tried to kill his new daughter, so she has to apologize and stuff.” 

“Do you like even know what is like in here?” Bratty complained , as they hosted the box to the door they knocked. Papyrus decided that he knew enough broke his illusion of hiding and began to follow them to the front lawn, with a darkened face he decided that he would confront them over the contents in the box. Before he really could though the door swung open , and a glowering Asgore stood there glaring down at the women in front of his door. 

“Like , hello your majesty, Alphys asked us to bring this box to the human. I um-” Catty was interrupted when Asgore threw open the top of the box to see what the contents were. Papyrus thought that it could have been some sort of trojan horse , so he continued to cautiously approached the group that was in the king's front yard. As he was able to see the contents he felt his concern dissipate to a lesser degree. It appeared to be a bunch of treats that the Dreamurrs liked, but mostly chocolate. Lots and lots of chocolate. Asgore turned to him with a confused look on his face , clearly at a loss of what to do. Toriel quickly rushed onto the scene trailed by Asriel. Toriel decided to thank and dismiss the girls who left without much of a fuss. Asriel said something about testing for poison before grabbing Chara's favorite treat and taking a bite much to the horror of his parents. Luckily he did not instantly turned to dust. All of the treats excluding the one that Asriel had just eaten appeared to be untampered with. Once again Asgore dismissed him ,and being rather tired Papyrus decided instead of his favorite alley way Houdini trick he would teleport right there and then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I think next chapter will have a bit of a time skip to the next appointment that Chara has. I will keep my daily upload schedule.


	19. Candied

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chara's new room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter rushed chapter today, sorry.

It had been a few weeks. Although Papyrus had been in frequent contact with Chara over the course of the last few weeks ,there had not been very many adventures over the course of that period of time . Sure occasionally Chara decided that she wanted to explore several areas of the underground more, but with the ongoing construction of her and Frisk's new room she was much more curious about that. Deciding to put much on hold including her next appearance with Napstation and some anime sessions with Undyne, so she could be present for the addition to the home. Apparently she had also been befriending all the construction monsters, even providing cookies and beverages that Asgore had helped her make. Papyrus and Asriel had teased her about being a grandmother somewhat as Asgore tossed them a dirty look which silenced them. It was good that she was becoming more respected in the eyes of more monsters. Today was the day that construction was going to be completed, and although there wouldn't be very much to do today as Chara would probably inspect every inch of her room for hidden mysteries that might be squeeze into every little corner, he was on standby. 

There was always the chance that she would get the urge to go explore some mundane aspect of the underground. There was always the chance that she would go beyond the main region of the underground where the monsters who still listened to the monarchy dwelled. Although they preferred to keep to their own , and were small in population there were factions that held a strong dislike for the royal family and any others that may have been allied with them. None really interacted with them ,and they mostly wanted nothing to do with those who lived in the small towns established by the royal family. These monsters were also not strong enough to challenge the boss monsters who had been established, so even if there were some kind of uprising from them it would not go very far. Papyrus's thoughts about the strange monster's whom inhabited the region outside the main cities and areas were quickly broken as several larger monsters opened the door to the new room.

Chara and Asriel stood up from their places on the couch. Asriel ran over to the new room ,and Chara slowly walked behind her. Following the duo to the room even slower than Chara he decided to follow. A room matching the red-orange one that Asriel and Chara shared sat there, instead of the toys that decorated Asriel's room there were books and posters. On the other side of the room there was a crib, in Asgore and Toriel's room there was also a crib there. From Papyrus's understanding although Toriel and Asgore decided with Chara that they would raise Frisk, they were allowing Chara to have some parental duties if she wanted them. Hence the crib and baby equipment present on the other half of the room. As expected Chara began to explore the room , taking in every little detail that she could find about it. Before she could get too into it she happily thanked the construction workers and her parents for the room. The construction workers all soon left not wanting to miss the rest of the day.

Asriel also explored the room, before running to his room and coming back with a plush. He proudly presented Chara with the brown teddy bear plush. “I am going to miss sharing a room with you and Frisk Chara , so I wanted to give you this...” he explained raising a arm to scratch the back of his head. Him and Chara had been close since she had joined the family, but recently they had taken to wearing the exact same clothes. Him and Chara wore identical green striped sweater and jeans. The only visible difference was that Asriel decided not to wear shoes or anything on his feet, while Chara decided to wear plain black shoes. 

“We could always have sleepovers Azzie, besides you can always come into the room. I don't mind.” Chara hugged her adoptive little brother. Papyrus simply stood observing , he did not have much to add to this moment. Asgore and Toriel soon entered the room where they looked on happily at their children.

“Chara tomorrow is the next visit with Gaster, we know we all got excited because of your room, but it is important that we actually go tomorrow to look at the condition of Frisk. Since you have been feeling dizzy as of late we have asked Gaster to come here. Papyrus has agreed to help transport some of the needed equipment, so Papyrus you can go home early tonight.” Chara's pregnancy had become more noticeable over the course of the last few weeks, although she often attempted to hide it away with baggy sweaters it was still very prominent when looking at her. Frisk had also become much more active. Although Frisk had been active the first time that Sans had interacted with them, it appeared to be somewhat of a fluke. That is not to say that the soul would go completely silent. Sometimes late at night the visible line that linked the two souls would suddenly illuminate the room, and Frisk's soul would come out to dance in the darkness. Pulsating ever so often ,which would bathe the room in a red hue. Chara had asked her parents about it ,but they just said that it was a normal part of a soul bond. Sometimes when linked souls were apart for a period of time they would communicate in their own funny way. Chara nodded and thanked her parents for doing that for her, although she had not had many symptoms of pregnancy the dizziness was a more annoying one that would strike her whenever she attempted to move too quickly. 

The dizziness would often drain her, but luckily Papyrus and Asriel would help her out if she every appeared to be too pale or flushed. She had never had any falls, but the dizziness would make her paranoid about falling over a lot of the time. She became curious wondering about how much Frisk was growing physically, she did not know the actual time that she had been pregnant with Frisk so it was really somewhat of a gamble to see what had actually developed. And although one could make estimates based off of what was there, she did not know how much time she had with Frisk in her like this. She also had decided that if she had to meet with Alphys ,she did not want to put Frisk at risk. After what seemed like forever , but was really just a small amount of time that Chara was in her head Papyrus decided to say his goodbyes before going home. It was again pretty late so she nearly passed out as soon as her head touched the pillow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt as though the story did kind of need a update on the whole 'pregnancy' portion , so this is kind of the set up for that. Sorry if it somewhat messes up that pacing that I had going on ,but I am trying to finish the story before I head off to Uni in a few months. I might die I think ,and I do not want to leave this unfinished if I do.


	20. Onions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The mid pregnancy ultrasound.

Early morning sunlight rained down from the window to dance on her cheek, with a tired grumble she slowly opened her eyes. Despite the light the house is still in a state of slumber, none of the other occupants being up. She contemplates getting more sleep in, but with a deep growl emanating from her stomach she decided that she would indulge in a little food. Pale legs swung over the wooden bed frame and gently meet the carpeted floor. Deciding that she would replace to comfortable clothes she decides that because of the sunlight she would go for a lighter apparel. Donning comfortable drawstring khaki colored shorts and a two toned green stripe sweater along with her slip-on shoes she mentally decided what she wanted for her snack. She would keep it rather light as well, because the Dreamurr family always was insistent as eating as a family. Huge feast and delightful conversations would be among the subjects. Papyrus would often linger among the sidelines. Sometimes he sat with them at the table and drink a cup of coffee, but only after relentless urging from Toriel and Asgore. He would really contribute that much to any ongoing conversations, opting only to say anything if it were a joke or urgent matters. Chara could not say too much about that however ,as she did not often feel as though that she had too much to say. Chara considered herself much more of a listener. Sometimes she would make eye contact with Papyrus at the table, although she felt a few weeks ago fear at his very presence she now felt very comfortable with him. Not comfortable enough to indulge him about various fears or random thoughts she would have, but she knew that he would not harm her intentionally. Often he would comfort her if she got scared or sad , she wasn't really sure what it meant but it would be nice to be official friends with him. In a way it had felt like she had known him for a while , but perhaps she was just really settling in. 

As she made her way to the kitchen it dawned on her. It really wasn't that early , she had just been dead tired last night. Her family sat there in a busy manner, sawing big pancakes coated with syrup apart with butter knives and forks. Among her family was also the skeleton family, somehow Asgore got more chairs. Papyrus sat seated as Gaster tried to feed the ever fussy baby Sans, his eyes snapped to hers. Sans ceased his screams ,and began to giggle. This drew the attention of every monster in the room giving her a flurry of 'good-mornings' . Asgore gestured to her seat next to Asriel ,which Chara quickly took excited to ingest the fluffy cakes. Sans kept on staring at her. She did not really know how to act around the little baby. She thought he was adorable, but the last time she had seen it was not so pleasant. She was the only confused human, because not long after she took her seat a soul came flying out of her. The tiny red soul danced around Sans much to his delight, as he giggled and grabbed at it. All of a sudden the soul turned blue and seemed to float down slowly to where Sans could actually reach it. This caused a great deal of apprehension to wash over the rest of the room occupants. Although they had known that Sans and Frisk where soul bonded, no monster had actually used any magic on her soul. And Sans was still developing a lot of his magic, so it was unpredictable what he could do. 

Gaster quickly jumped into action: “Sans. Sans. No Sans. No using magic on their soul, you don't know how it would effect them.” Sans for whatever reason listened to Gaster, as opposed to his usually fussy defiance. Perhaps he could somewhat comprehend what could happen to Frisk, or maybe his magic ran out. The dark blue magic left the soul , and after a quick check it was evident that no harm had come to the tiny soul. Still within Sans's grasp it did not seem to try to escape or even move. The color increased brightly with the tiny link at the bottom of the soul illuminating as well with a faint white glimmer. The soul painted the white of Sans's skull with a red hue, and the blue in his eyes seemed to morph into hearts in a strange manner. Chara remembered that she was still quite hungry, and still very unsure on how to address the bizarre on goings of the kitchen she focused her attention back on her meal. 

After she had managed to shove the filling breakfast down her mouth, she glanced back up. Once again making eye contact with Papyrus , he seemed to regard her with a quick smile before Gaster spoke up. “ Chara. I'm sure that you might have realized that I am here for a check up, although we don't quite have an examination room , we will be conducting the examination in your new room for privacy,” Gaster explained to Chara. He eyed the room occupants wondering if he should discuss the focus of the visit. “Would you like for this conversation to continue in private?” although he was technically the default health specialist not too many monsters actually came to him for subjects like this. Unsure on how to really proceed with this he decided to give her the option. 

Although Chara was also very unsure about how to proceed with this, she decided that the veil of privacy may be a safer option. Saying she wished to proceed in her room , she soon decided to make her way back to her room. Since Sans still held a hold on Frisk's soul Asgore said that he would watch the baby bones with the soul and Asriel volunteered to also help watch over them. Papyrus would wait outside of the room while Toriel was in the room with Chara and Gaster, as a support system. Once they were set up Gaster began to explain why the checkup was important: “It is detrimental that we see how Frisk's organs and anatomy appear, we will also need to take measurements and listen to her heartbeat. Since there has only been one present soul ,we can be sure that it is just Frisk and no other siblings,” something else that he had read on human pregnancy had popped up in his head. “Also it is at this stage in the pregnancy that we could tell gender, if you wish to do so.” Frisk was a pretty gender neutral name , so even if the gender was unexpected it would remain as Frisk. Although Chara had a pretty spiritual upbringing up to a certain point she believed in a letting a person be themselves. It was this attitude that often caused her grief when she choose to wear pants and shorts and not dresses and skirts. 

Toriel seemed to be pretty excited when she found out about the gender thing. Her eyes sparkled in a excited way, though she tried to hide it by looking over at the books. It was doubtless that upon finding out they would choose a color scheme for Frisk and begin to sew her clothes. For Asriel it was a Emerald green with mint stripes. For Chara it was sea foam green with lime stripes. Although it was a very similar color scheme , it was obvious which belong to whom when looking at them. As the emerald green was darker than the sea foam green. She decided for her adoptive family's sake that she would find out Frisk's gender. “Yeah. I want to find out the gender.” Without much further ado the examination started. Whipping out the odd TV screen device and the connected wand thing and the gel he prepped Chara for the exam. Upon starting it was quickly observed that Frisk's organs appeared to be healthy , and as expected it was only Frisk who was occupying the space of Chara's body. With a measuring tape he quickly measured Chara's stomach to get something called the 'fundal height' although Chara was confused he seemed satisfied with the initial measurement. Lastly he let the strange wand glide to a region that could see the chubby legs of Frisk.

Although Chara did not know what was going on on the screen Gaster soon quietly announced: “Frisk is a girl”.


	21. Candles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is a bit shorter than normal, not feeling the best today.

Although Chara was pretty indifferent to Frisk's gender, she would of love them the same no matter what gender they were born with after all. It helped her visualize Frisk a little better. She hoped that Frisk took after her more so than the other party that aided in her creation. Sure she thought it could have been selfish ,but it would ease the pain that now lay somewhat dormant in her new life. Not really coming to the surface unless she thought about it too much. She thought about possibly getting a diary of some sort when she got good enough at writing. Her spelled words now resemble lazy doodles, while Asriel's hand writing was always a very elegant cursive. Papyrus made her less self conscious because he always forgot to capitalize the words. As she loss her self in the somewhat meaningless thoughts Gaster concluded his examination of Frisk. She was so far healthy from what he could tell, nothing alarming could be found from what he could gather from old human books. Although he might have been concerned about possible nutrients and vitamins , the monster's food tended to be healthier and more nutrient rich than human food. Toriel and Asgore are also monsters who enjoy cooking for fun. So it was a concerned that was initially eased, and ends up he had nothing to worry about yet. 

“Frisk on all accounts appears to be a healthy baby girl,” unsure if he brought it up before he decided to inform Chara on something that might add to the divergence of her pregnancy. “You know that Frisk has a soulmate ,yes?” he decided to begin prodding. With an eager shake of her head Chara answered the question. “Well because she has a soulmate there is a possibility of her being born earlier than most human children , although I cannot say for sure as this is a new phenomenon. Not even really among monster do soul bonds form before birth.” Gaster did not know if he did a good enough job prior to this if he did so. Sans's constant fussing from being away from his soulmate often made him somewhat weary. As he explained his observations to the goat monster and the human, the human was slowly fixing her outfit. As he concluded his report the Toriel and Chara thanked him and Toriel thanked him and offered lunch or coffee. Gaster although happy about the offer wanted to move all of his equipment back home before making any other plans. Although the teleportation ability was one that most of the skeleton family possessed it was hard for him to pull off, so he could only do it if it were just himself. Papyrus could transport people, things, and countless other things with his version of the ability. 

“Perhaps we will stay for a cup of coffee and a less work-centric topic, while Papyrus moves everything home.” Moving closer to the door as he explained this ,he slowly opened the door. Upon opening it he found Papyrus he as always snoozing lightly away leaning back ever so slightly against the wall. Bringing a bony phalanges to his ever present smirk he gestured in a 'shh' motion to the girls. As turned his back to his son, who was now slightly looking at him in a mischievous manner making sly eye contact with Chara for a split second he pretended that he was asleep again. Gaster drew in a deep breath intending to shout Papyrus's name in order to startle him awake. 

“heya pops” Papyrus greeted him mid breath, making the intended effect backfire as he was now the startled one. 

“Papyrus the next time that you are awake say so!” the father playfully shouted at his oldest son. “Now if you could transport the equipment home, you can go back to your nap” with a shrug Papyrus quickly made his way over to the monitor. With a orange poof he appeared to be gone before another orange poof signaled his return. Although Chara had heard that he could teleport , she had never seen it in action. She watched the actions of the lanky skeleton as Gaster and Toriel walked out of the room. As Papyrus continued his actions until all of Gaster's equipment was back home in his own personal office. 

As Papyrus finished the task that his father set him off on he noticed Chara lingering by the door. “eye see that you are still here.” He had expected her to follow Gaster and Toriel out of the room. 

“Oh I'm sorry I was just curious about how you transport” Chara responded honestly not really sure on how to respond to the directness in his statement. 

“its fine, lets ketchup with the others” Chara and Papyrus made their way back to the kitchen where the rest of their conjoined families were sitting with each other back at the table. Gaster seemed more relaxed than he usually was because Sans was sans tantrum with Frisk's soul. The soul still glowed lightly in Sans's grasp. It was not too long later that Sans fell into a deep slumber, it was at this point that Frisk's soul fluttered back to Chara's body and absorbed into the region that Gaster had examined earlier in the day. With the recent progression Gaster decided it was time for the Skeleton family to head home. 

Later that day the Dreamurrs family sat in discussion, dinner was in front of them as they feasted. “Chara, tomorrow you will be making your second appearance with Napstation.”


	22. Embers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Napstation gets up to shenanigans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey ,   
> I had a lot of confusion in the comments yesterday. Chara in this story is thirteen and many of the main characters are aged down to similar ages. The characters despite me trying to retain aspects of their original personalities (switched of course because this is a underswap fic) are children. I really do not know how much more I can explain this. Please enjoy this chapter.

Napstation danced around his set, preparing any last details that he may of forgotten. He had agreed readily to allow the human to build a bit of a positive reputation for herself behind the relative safety of his camera lens. Although he agreed to the conditions that would surround Chara's appearance in a timely fashion he had to wait awhile for the actual show to happen Not that Napstation really minded of course, the poor dear must be busy. He heard that the Dreamurrs were in the process of constructing her an entirely new room. He had decided to ease the strain of the whole pregnancy for Chara by having his set up closer to New Home. Although he would avoid most questions about the pregnancy it would be very apparent to the viewers ,but that is what high kitchen counters and editing are for. The human appeared to be very charming. Although she did not seem to have access to a modern phone at first , she was a genius when it came to figuring it out. Only after a few hours after the upgrade that Undyne gifted her was he sent a friend request from an account titled : 'The Human'.

The profile picture had a very happy Asriel and her posing for a picture with peace symbols and matching green sweaters. There were also cheesy green sunglasses edited on the duo ,but all it did was make the picture more endearing to any viewer. Although probably not many monsters had the pleasure of meeting Chara yet, she already had multiple followers and online friends. He quickly accepted her request. Scrolling down the profile he saw several pictures of food prepared by the queen and king, the royal family, and lastly that stupid skeleton. Although he could not stand the skeleton he was beginning to feel like he had some sort of crush on the human because of the amount of pictures where his eyes where planted on the human. Coupled with the threats that he received Napstation felt that the whole 'guard' facade was secretly a lot deeper. He intended to figure out if it were a crush or just a figment of his imagination. 

In a way it almost reminded him of the crush that Undyne had harbored on Alphys. She even went as far as to help engineer a plot to make the royal couple realize how ready she was to apologize. Although it took a while for him to weasel the information out of his shy friend. He was attempting to help get Alphys out of the jail sentence she had been dealt for attempting to harvest the human souls. Though his efforts would be much more discreet than the methods of Bratty and Catty he hoped. He knew that Alphys was very remorseful, though sometimes she was so intimidating that many forgot that she was still only sixteen. Napstation was also nearing seventeen ,and stars did he make stupid decisions sometimes. He even manage to scare away sweet shy little Hapstablook , or was it really him . Hapstablook should have been more supportive in his opinion. Both wanted a career in music ,but Napstation was just a little more eager to get it. Yeah that is right he should have worked harder, he has no right to be so jealous. 

Napstation's thoughts about his much more meeker cousin is interrupted when a pounding 'knock-knock-knock' sounds at the door of his little set. He happily responds: “Who is it?” A small silence follows , but Napstation quickly receives an answer.

“It's me Chara!” A faux crowd cheers loudly from the camera that captures his every move as he dramatically glides over to the door. Upon opening it is the friendly human followed by none other than Papyrus who looks less than thrilled to be there. Not that Napstation really cares that much. 

“Oh Dear, you finally shown up! We are going to make a cake!” Napstation enthusiastically hugs Chara before excitedly showing her and Papyrus a cake recipe before making sure that the audience can see it. “Papyrus you can go sit over at the table, I know you would much rather enjoy a nap than actually do anything productive!”It wasn't a new piece of information as everyone knew that Papyrus could fall asleep anywhere, and unless you were close to him he would fall asleep instead of indulging you in conversation. The was the story of Papyrus's and Napstation's first meeting after all. He had fell asleep when Napstation was introducing himself to his friend's boss's son. Although he also knew he had strong magic that was just plain rude! 

Papyrus leveled a glare at him before slinking away to the table to sleep. Except he wasn't , instead positioning himself to appear as though he was sleeping but retaining eye contact on Chara. It was a pretty good act considering the usual relative laziness of the skeleton, however Napstation was a better actor who had a good eye for certain things. Napstation decided not to comment on it for now, but he would probably ask about it sometime later if a question and commentary segment came up on its show. It would make a much better question than the last one on his former list written by Undyne. He intended to avoid anything about the pregnancy altogether , only talking about it if Chara brought it up first. He guided Chara to the counter where he presented her with a NTT brand apron , slipping on his own embroidered with his brilliant robotic face. He set up the book in a place where it could not get messed up. Despite the human only being on his shows for a few moments the view count was spiking. 

“This episode of cooking with Napstation , is brought to us from the lovely people at NTT hotel. If you ever want to go on a vacation come to NTT hotel, you might even get a chance to meet me there! I hope to see you soon!” Turning away from the camera, Napstation turned to Chara. “Darling can you go get milk,flour, and sugar,”Chara spun around to locate the ingredients , looking at Papyrus for a few moments who was still pretending to be asleep at the table. “No darling , I do not mean your sugar-skull I mean actual sugar which should be on the back counter. I am going to get the eggs!” he said in a teasing jab before going back to his excited tone. Chara's face flooded red, and she quickly grabbed the ingredients before returning to the counter facing the camera. Glancing back at the skeleton his face seemed more ...orange than usual deciding that he prodded the maybe couple enough he decided to begin mixing the ingredients together with Chara. 

“The recipe says that we should mix the dry ingredients first, do you want to sift them while I mix the wet ones?” he asked Chara to which she nodded her head answering with a quick: 'yeah'. They set to their chosen task before Napstation began to say something else. He was the main attraction of the NTT and Napstation brand, so he was always sponsored by them. Often he would advertise this sponsorship by showcasing NTT products. “Oh my stars, my dear I forgot that we needed a oven” Chara looked at him in a fake alarm. They had discussed this a little over social media, and both decided that it may come off a bit more dramatic if it were a oven that they were missing. From the table a quiet scoff came from the 'sleeping' skeleton. A sudden ringing sound came out of nowhere , and just like magic a NTT brand oven came descending out of the sky. Guided safely by a NTT parachute too. A NTT helicopter was revealed behind the flying oven and a blue bunny man waved at him, also donning a NTT fast food restaurant uniform. The helicopter flew off and Napstation decided to launch into another commercial spiel. “You can always depend on NTT for your immediate needs, we may not be the royal guard but we are everything else. Get your NTT oven here NOW! by calling this number” A fast number came out of his changing face as the commercial ended. He pre-heated the oven. 

Returning to where Chara sat happily, he began to pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients producing a creamy cake batter. To which they then poured into a lightly greased pan which they placed into the shining NTT oven to cook while they worked on the icing which for the most part was just butter and sugar. During this easy process and while the cake was cooking Napstation decided to get on to the questioning segment. 

“So Chara how has the Underground been treating you darling?” he asked twirling the icing with a whisk.

“Everyone here has been really nice. It has been wonderful down here!” she answered back cheerfully. The skeleton remained silent which was a good sign. 

“I heard that recently a new room was built for you at the house of the royal family through some lovely construction workers, what do you say on this?” he asked Chara. Though most of the Underground knew this already they often ate up small talk like this. Gossip was constantly reverberating in the underground like a echo. It typically was not that bad , usually grades and work. 

“That is true. King-dad and Queen-mom built me and Frisk a room . I really love it!” Chara shared. Although she had brought up the topic Napstation would not really ask about it. Despite some of the views dropping if he did not. He knew that the skeleton was not really sleeping, and he did not feel like fighting that battle today. 

“How is your relationship with old skeleton boy over there?” Napstation gestured at Papyrus. Chara remembering what he said earlier , referring to Papyrus as 'her sugar-skull' brought a another red blush to her face. Before she could answer Napstation exploded : “Oh my darling ! Is that a blush?” he exclaimed excitedly. The underground just loved young romance. 

“N-No! My face is just naturally red!” she stuttered out. Before she could really add anything else to her defense the oven beep saving her from further embarrassing prodding from the robot. 

“The cake is done darling, are we ready to try it!” He said excitedly before nearly driving at full force to the oven.

“Yeah!” glad to be done with the questioning she followed the popular robot to the oven to retrieve the cake. Glancing over at the skeleton revealed that he was now emanating the color orange. He was embarrassed too. After Napstation smeared the icing on the cake in a fanciful manner, he presented Chara with a piece before also serving himself and slamming a piece down in front of the 'sleeping' skeleton who promptly woke up to look at him in a half glare. Chara ate the cake in a hungry fashion getting icing on her face in the process. Before Napstation could comment on it too much Papyrus gave Chara a white napkin. She thanked him before using it. Papyrus kept his eyes down on the cake the entire time not really wanting to make eye contact with the other rooms occupants.

Although Napstation did not care much at all for the tired rude skeleton he had found his next gold mine.


	23. Tinted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aftermath of Napstation's show.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this yesterday, which I am kind of proud of.

It was not that long after Chara and Papyrus left the set of Napstation that she received a notification from the underground's favorite social media page. Although she received a wide range of messages on there, she would answer each messaged she received. The messages would span from questions from monster children asking about human class, to odd threats from depressed monsters that she would cheer up and befriend. Today's message was an apology. It came from a anonymous account, as there was a black picture and a account name titled:' AnImElOvEr4U'. Since she could not tell who it was she decided to read it and respond like it was anyone else. She shuffled the full cake that Napstation had prepared for the show just in case anything went awry. Noticing her struggle to empty one of her hands to fish for her phone, Papyrus gently grabbed the cake that Chara insisted on carrying away from the set. She was clearly embarrassed by the romantic talk that Napstation kept on bringing up. Although Papyrus did not explicitly say that Napstation could stir the pot with a rumor about Chara and Papyrus being romantically involved with one another, he supposed it was better than asking about Chara's pregnancy. 

“You probably will not see this ,but I have been feeling really bad lately about my actions. I will keep this vague as I wish to stay anonymous. You will probably be able to figure out who this is though TBH. I am sorry about my actions towards you, at the time I thought it would be for the greater good. That is clearly not the case though, as you seem really cool. Once again I am sorry , I will stop bothering you now” 

Although Chara had an inkling about whom it could be , she did not want to assume too much. There had been quite a few monsters who harbored negative feelings towards her. Given the chance to possibly confront her in a more private manner, many took the chance to talk to her via social media. Often though after Chara responded to them asking Asriel for help as she did not want to send Toriel , Asgore , or even Papyrus upon them she would respond back to them. Often when she talked to them she would find out that they were very depressed, stressed, or sad. Usually they felt really hopeless. Chara could relate to this feeling, and she would console them as much as she could. Perhaps if Chara was stuck down here, she could become a therapist of sorts when she finished growing up. Before she could really think to deeply about herself she responded back to the mysterious messenger.

“Greetings AnImElOvEr4U, I am honoring your wish to stay unknown. I will not try to investigate who you are. I am happy that you apologized to me for whatever actions you might have taken towards me. You can bother me all you want!” sending an quick enthusiastic reply Chara yelped as she bumped into the back of Papyrus's back. 

“Hey watch you're going bone-head!” Chara groaned at him. Rubbing her head with her hand as she shot a playful frown at the taller skeleton. He glance at her from behind him .

“eye could say the same thing to you kid”Papyrus shot back at her, she glanced around Papyrus to see a narrow bridge leading back to New Home, underneath it was lava. It was probably a good thing that she bumped into Papyrus. A weak pull of orange magic dislocated the phone out of her hand gently flying into Papyrus's own skeletal hand, “i am taking this away from you for now, you are a bit too deep into the phone zone. you wouldn't want to burn a bridge or anything, would you ?” he joked while he slipped the phone into his hoodie pocket without looking at the contents. He knew a bit about what she did on the social media. Monsters on her page would often comment : 'Chara is a sweet angel' , or 'Princess Chara is such a precious monster!”.Occasionally a royal hater would jump on there to say something horrid about the human but they would quickly be beaten down on the site by those who supported Chara and the rest of the royal family. They knew that she was not really a monster. Yet they would shower her with praise, despite the seven souls barrier prophecy. It was hard not to like her, she was sweet and forgiving. Papyrus thought that what she did on her phone and social media was not his concern, he was more concern with her physical safety. If she brought any threats to him though, he would visit the monster in question .

They began to cross the bridge, as it wobbled Chara would grasp his hand. After the whole Napstation incidence she seemed to be a bit more hesitant to show any obvious affection towards him. For sake of her security he decided that he would let her hand go when they finished crossing the bridge. He might have joked about her falling over the bridge , but he didn't want it to actually happen. He wrapped his usually cool hand around her much warmer one. He could feel the blush rising to his cheeks, but if he was asked about it he would have said it was the lava reflecting off his white cheekbones. Chara also felt a blush rising to her face, she would say that she was just feeling warm . There was nothing more than friendship between the monster and the human. As she thought back on AnImElOvEr4U she hoped that it would be another monster that she could befriend. As she became a bit more lost in her thoughts at the moment, and the feeling of Papyrus's hand intertwined with her own she was startled when they had reached the end of the bridge and the entrance of New Home. 

Papyrus's hand shot into his hoodie's pouch and dug out her phone. Chara's eye followed the skeletal hand into said pouch. “here you go, i guess you could say that you lava your phone a lot” he said as he gave her phone and she instantly went to check the messenger to see if AnImElOvEr4U had responded. They had not. 

“Don't worry olive you a lot more...” although she was busy with her cell phone, she stopped as she said that. She could feel the cringe climbing on her back. Her face went full red, as she began to stutter out another pun or explanation that could make the awkwardness of the moment fly away. Papyrus head went full orange , and he could feel his brain short circuit. Although he had never really thought of Chara as anything more than platonic, Napstation's comments and Chara's latest pun really seemed to affect him. 

“I-I am sorry, I was talking to a friend on here about food. I was um... sending her a food pun . Because she hates puns...”Chara explained nearly throwing her phone as she waved her arms around in a attempt to explain her slip of the tongue better. Papyrus felt the blush dissipating a little bit . It was directed at someone else. Although it made him feel mostly better , there was also a bitter feeling that arose in his rib cage. She did not need to know about that of course. 

“ i sea, make sure to cake it on then.” he said with a wink. As Chara laughed. They continued back to New Home.


	24. Ameliorate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alphys and Chara have a chat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello readers,   
> Another chapter produced late last night because of insomnia and boredom. I hope it comes out good , but Alphys has been a bit tougher for me to write than usual. After this I will finally be able to write her more in character I hope.

Another week had ended . Although Chara was not usually a very vigilant person when it came to checking the time , ever since she had learn to read the calendar she had been marking everyday with a 'x' when it had ended. There could have been the excitement of having learned the habit from Asgore that kept it strong. But really as she flipped through the pieces of paper to the one where the snowman sat , reminding her of her favorite skeleton guard , she remember the true reason. There entire weeks sat circled in various shades of green and red. The green was the day of Gyftmas , a holiday which Asriel eagerly told her about. The red was when Frisk might be born, according to the calculations of Dr. Gaster Skeleton. Since she was now twenty one weeks in or five months pregnant it meant that Frisk was developing her eyes and was about the size of a carrot. Her parents had gifted her with a special kind of magic lotion that would banish any stretch marks she might gain from the pregnancy. Although Chara was re-markedly resilient , they did not want her to feel insecure over something physical that she had no control over. As she flipped back to where she was on the calendar , she felt a slight shiver down her spine. 

In another five days , she would be going to confront a new fear. Although she had made many new friends ,and even converted enemies to these new friends she did not know if she could do it with her. Alphys was probably the scariest monster that she had ever seen. Not because she had the scariest magic, but because she had the alarming intention. She wished to harvest both Chara and Frisk's souls to present them to her adopted parents. The thought itself was blood chilling, and it would often cause Chara to have nightmares about the barrier. She wanted the Monsters to be happy, but she did not want sacrifice Frisk for them to see the stars. No matter how selfish that might sound. Perhaps if it were just her she would allow the monsters to have her soul. But Frisk was her driving force, the thought of Frisk playing and being happy filled her with determination. Frisk was the entire reason that Chara fled her cage when she did. Frisk shouldn't have to suffer at the hands of the demons that murdered their entire human family. Frisk was the reason that Chara was alive.

It was for Frisk that Chara accepted making amends with Alphys so quickly despite her fear. She did not want Frisk to have to live in fear of being hunted down and murdered by the leader of the royal guard because of her soul. She wanted Frisk to have a normal life , although she could also not give her the stars she could give her a good safe environment. She could give Frisk parents that would keep them together and protect them. She could give Frisk all of the love of the underground. It was on this that Chara focused on. She would befriend the entire underground so that Frisk may flourish. As Chara concluded her thoughts she decided that it was late enough to go to bed, raising her black marker to the date she crossed it out before closing it and crawling into her bed. Raising an old book that use to belong to Asriel to her face she decided that she would read a little bit to Frisk before passing out. 

The five days passed fast , much to Chara's chagrin. She now sat waiting in her kitchen for the lizard to make her appearance at her home. Chara pondered whether she should stand if she had to run. A fluttering kick from Frisk made her grimace, as she changed her mind about that decision. She remained seated next to Papyrus and Asriel. Papyrus noticed her discomfort and decided to talk to her and Asriel. 

“knock knock” his calm voice rang out in the unusually silent kitchen. Toriel and Asgore stood near the front door. They intended to escort Alphys to see their adoptive child. If she were to try anything Asgore, Toriel, and Papyrus would dust her before any of her magic could glimpse across Chara. 

“Who is it ?” Asriel excitedly asked, eager to figure out what the joke was. Despite his normal animated demeanor , Asriel could feel the tension which was admittedly pretty hard for him. 

“hatch” Papyrus answered back. 

“Hatch who?” Asriel answered back in the typical way that one would answer one of these jokes. 

“bless you” Papyrus concluded the joke, as Asriel let out a few giggles. Chara remained silent, looking rather lost in her thoughts. Decided that he would do another joke to provide her some background noise to counter her muteness. 

“knock knock” he repeated the punchline to the joke. 

“Who's there” Chara much to his surprise answered him, glancing over to him as she resting her rosy cheeked face on her hand.

“alpaca.” he decided that he would confront her. 

“Alpaca who” 

“Alpaca the trunk , you pack the suitcase,” he made eye contact with her. Her ruby eyes still processing the joke, or rather proposition. “if you wanna leave we could go”.

“Thank you , but this is something that I have to do.” She smiled brightly at him, he had the urge to divert his eyes but kept the eye contact. The eye contact seemed to make Chara blush, and she continued what she wanted to say. “I have to do it for Frisk.” The more time that Papyrus spent with the human , the more he could see the various attribute of her character. Sure her primary attribute was determination, but her soul could have easily been kindness or something else. Her continued mercy was a trait that he admired a lot about her , though he would never want to admit it to her face.   
A resounding knock came from the living room ,and the look on Chara's face as she heard Toriel give Alphys a brief little greeting. 

As her eyebrows furrowed and she wound one arm around her stomach. Asriel taking noticed of this made a effort to catch the arm holding her head up . Papyrus deciding that giving her some kind physical reassurance was also a good idea place a hand once concealed in his pocket on her shoulder. It also would serve as a good way to move her to a safer place if Alphys wanted to have any dumb ideas about the souls. 

Alphys entered the room the way a convicted criminal may walk out of a courtroom after receiving a court sentence. She wore a black tank top and jeans, she also was tugging a massive purse with her. Toriel lead her to the kitchen and asked her to take a seat , while Asgore walk from behind making sure that she would not think he was joking when he threatened to dust her over his child. She took the seat as requested and proceeded to look somewhat unsure for a moment. She then proceeded to pull out a massive amount of chocolate from the main pocket of the purse . Piling them on the table. For a moment the entire room seemed to go even more silent, when she could not pull any more chocolate from the main pocket she switched to one of her other pockets. Chara looked on in horror and amazement, she had found out quickly when Bratty and Catty brought the chocolate as Asriel woke her up to enjoy the massive amount. 

Asgore managed to stop her, and she moved the pile of chocolate toward Chara. “Human , er Chara I am sorry about my behavior towards you. I know that the chocolate doesn't really mean anything but Undyne told me you like them , so I got you some.” Alphys began her in-person apology. She had apologized over the internet, though she did not know what to really say to the response that Chara sent.

She was hoping for validation. Maybe discovering that Chara was secretly mean so that she could maybe prove to the royal couple that it would be beneficial to take her soul to begin to break the barrier. The response she received buried that notion . Chara was now someone she wanted to befriend , the fact that Undyne had befriended them and now regularly had anime marathons with them only increased this desire. Though she did not know if she could really take the glare that Papyrus was delivering. She knew that the lazy skeleton had a younger brother, a really cute one at that. She did not know that humans and monsters could bond the way that Sans and the unborn human did. She thought that it was a bluff. She regretted what she said to Papyrus earlier. But she also knew that he could hold a grudge , he was after all the judge. 

“It is fine . I understand why you wanted to do it,” Chara started making eye contact with her with glimmering red eyes. Chara was cute for a human. “I am hoping that we could work something out. I don't want to be on bad terms with anyone.” Chara explained herself, and if it were possible Alphys began to feel worse about her rash decision. Chara's eyes diverted away from Alphys glancing at Toriel who began to set tea cups in front of everyone at the table. Inside the tea cups where the little familiar golden flower teabags that Alphys and all the other monsters knew was Toriel's favorite. Water from a kettle was soon poured in the cups ,and Toriel sat down next to Alphys. 

The conversation reached a pause, and Alphys thought it probably was her turn to speak. Though she did not really know what to say. Usually she might put on a fun intensive energy to destroy tenseness with her friends and other monsters. But now was not the time for that, the human did not know her well enough for her to act that way towards her anyways. “Look, um Chara, I can understand if you do not want to see me that much. Or for them to see me,” she gestured to Chara's stomach. “I can avoid you if you wish, but I wanted you to know that I will not try to harvest your soul anymore. Or theirs . I will wait for a mean human to fall down here , and take their soul instead!” Alphys said the last bit more excitedly , and for whatever reason this drew a small laugh from Chara. 

“I don't mind seeing you . In fact I hope that we can become friends .” Chara spoke her lines so earnestly that Alphys smiled back at the smaller human girl.

Much to everyone's satisfaction it seemed as though everything between the human girl and the lizard girl was resolved. Alphys was granted back her position in the royal guard . And of course because of Chara's ever persistent determination she had arranged for a hangout with Undyne and Alphys next week , with of course Papyrus's accompaniment.


	25. Surprised

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A birthday party + backstory +ballroom dance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi,   
> I have been more occupied with other things than I expected today. This is kind of uninspired I'll admit, but I have a pretty large headache right now. Thank you for reading.

More weeks passed. Chara kept up with them in her calendar marking more and more days with her usual dark 'x'. The weather seemed to have gotten warmer in New Home, much to Chara's delight. Summer had always been one of her favorite seasons . Not only was it the season that she was born as she was told by her late grandfather, but it was also one of the safer seasons. As autumns and winters were much more dangerous than the summer season. The snow could freeze one to death if one had to venture out into it. The autumn was when everything died locking them and animals into a deadly scramble for food before the dreadful winter hit. Spring was also rather dangerous as it was when animals would wake up hungry and dangerous. Spring however was beautiful, it was when all the plants awoken. As Chara lamented over the past , she heard fast feet approaching. 

The door was nearly thrown open . Asriel was quick to grab her sleeve begging her to follow him. She relented. She loved following her little brother around , but with her ever increasing symptoms it was difficult to sustain a fast pace. She supposed that she would enjoy it more when it was over but for now she decided to bare with it and follow the somewhat shorter goat boy out of the room. He lead his adoptive older sister to the kitchen. The kitchen was very dark , and for a moment Chara worried about tripping. The lights flipped on , and her family and friends popped out of the darkness. Presenting her with various boxes in different sizes wrapped in colorful wrapping paper and ribbons. Confetti seemed to explode out of nowhere and rain down on the small party. On the table sat a large green tiered cake with the number fourteen on the cake. 

Although Chara never really celebrated her birthday before , her grandfather would always comment when it got close to her birthday. Chara's grandfather was one of the wealthiest men in her country in his youth. As one of the only magic users born in years he was always given lots of respect and other privileges. He allowed his only child to marry for love, and her chosen husband quickly left her and his unborn child for better opportunities elsewhere or so her mother would say when Chara would question where he was. On the small farm that was the last part of her Grandfather's wealth Chara would often work all day to gather enough food for her mother and grandfather. Both could not work like Chara could. Her Grandfather was crippled when he used the last of his magic to perform some task that he would often avoid speaking of, all Chara could ever get from him was that it was evil and regretted. Her mother would indulge in alcohol that she would steal crops away from dinner or harvesting to ferment. Although Chara often was irritated that she would do this, she never really spoke up. She did not want her mother to lash out at her again. 

Chara was quickly knocked out of her somber past , by the sudden singing of the 'Birthday Song' as Asriel called it. As they sang their voices rose, and the pitch from some of them was nearly enough to break the window. Although it somewhat caused a slight pain to radiate in one of Chara's ear she enjoyed the attention that she was receiving from the room's occupants. When the other occupants concluded the song, Napstation rolled forward. A stop light focused on him and seemed to follow him closely as he began to sing a solo. The tiny camera that was forever focused on him trailed him closely , streaming music and other random sound effects. As he sang he dance somehow , twirling his long arms as he approached her. Long arms encircled her, and began to twirl her around ball room style around the room. A mystic ballroom begun to fill the air. 

Furry arms once again began to tug on her sleeve with glee. With a little disappointment from what Chara could gleam from Napstation's expression she changed partners. She spun around the medium size kitchen with her younger adoptive brother. Amused but bored some of the room occupants began to filter out. Gaster took a sleepy Sans to the living room , and Toriel and Asgore followed him. Papyrus who she just noticed looked like he would have followed them , but decided to stay. To Chara's delight it appeared that Alphys and Undyne also began to partake in the ballroom like dance. Asriel danced from what seemed like half a song before he started to complain that he was tired. Papyrus stepped in. The streaming camera began to play one of her favorite instrumentals that Napstation showed her how to play during one of her various 'Times With Napstation and Friends'. Undyne had invited her and Papyrus to Alphys house. Somehow Napstation showed up with a piano and his camera. Truthfully Chara never could figure out how he got the camera into the house without Alphys knowing , but it was still rather funny. She messed around on the piano while Napstation laid seductively on it and feed himself grapes. 

As she begun to dance with the tall skeleton , it started to feel a certain way. Evoked a odd emotion from her. It was different from Asriel's fervent giggling circling, and Napstation's exaggerated twirls and performing for the camera. It felt careful. Intimate in a familiar fashion. Perhaps it was because Papyrus was one of her oldest friend's in the underground. Maybe she was just feeling funny because it was late and this was sudden. She tried her best to regard them all the same with a large smile and laughter. Papyrus was peculiarly warm though, and she fought the urge to rest her head against his chest. His hands enveloped her hands with a warm heat and a loose grip. She could leave anytime she wanted to. They danced until the song ended and then they awkwardly parted ways. 

Napstation seemed engage in a very fun conversation with Asriel, and Chara soon joined it. Although the party was unexpected it was certainly fun.


	26. Celebrations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asgore and Toriel have a baby shower with Chara and their friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't really know much more I could really put prior to Frisk. Originally she was born before the fic started , and played a major part in most events. So I am kind of time skipping to Frisk.

Another day in the Dreamurr household . Today marked the end of the thirty-fifth week of Frisk's stay in Chara's body. Although she was excited to see Frisk , the more and more time that she spent in the underground the more time she realized that she wanted to finish growing up. She hadn't really realized what Toriel and Asgore meant when they offered to raise Frisk , but the longer she had Frisk with in her the more that she was grateful for their offer. Not that she didn't love Frisk or anything but she did not think that pregnancy was an experience worth repeating. At least not anytime soon. She wanted to run wildly with Asriel and Alphys. She wanted to watch all the anime with Undyne. She wanted to attend school. She wanted to have that little bit of freedom that the others seemed to have in the underground. 

She was also grateful for monster food. Apparently it could heal wounds because the food had magic encrusted into its very chemical bonds. It would also bounce her back to how she originally looked prior to Frisk. Although Chara had never really cared much for her looks, she did not like looking pregnant. It brought a sense of shame upon her. She had seen pregnant human women before on the surface. It wasn't that she necessarily thought that they were ugly , but they weren't desirable. At least that is what her old mother told her on one of her drunken tangents when Chara could not escape. Women who had children were only good if they could produce male heirs, which Chara was not. Chara was a despicable creature who scared away her own human father. Although Chara was not sure her father would have had much impact on her life if he had stayed, she often pondered what exact sort of man he was. What really happen between her old mother and him? Chara shook herself out of her thoughts as she closed the marker and set it down next to her calendar. 

Chara began wearing thick pants and jackets as it was nearing winter and she was more vulnerable than most monsters to temperature. Today was something special . Today was Frisk's baby shower. Although Asgore and Toriel had plans to raise Frisk as their own so that Chara may also have a childhood, they often consulted Chara for her opinion. When they had approached Chara with the concept of a 'Baby-Shower' she was confused. In Chara's old farm village , babies were only celebrated if it were a male. Most of the time it would be the heavily pregnant wives cooking, whilst the husbands got drunk and shot at animals in the woods with beat up firearms. Chara didn't want to think about what would happen when the husband would come home. They explained that it was tradition for the friends of the parents to bring gifts for the new child. They would be gifting Frisk with all her new clothes at this unknown ceremony. Figuring it was somewhat like her birthday Chara agreed without any real hesitation. 

Similar to event that transpired a few months ago she made her way out to her living room. There were a few of her main friends there , there also seemed to be a mountain of gifts. After her birthday a mountain of gifts showed up at the door and in the front lawn to the point where they were barricaded in their home. It took Papyrus and some of the others removing the gifts away from the door to get free. Apparently although Chara's birthday party was supposed to be pretty small, a bunch of monsters that she had befriended showed up with gifts. Chara was flattered and really happy that her new friends cared that much about her. After a life where she felt relative indifference or straight up hatred it was nice to feel that level of caring. Deciding though that they did not want to relive that experience Asgore and Toriel decided to allow the guest to mail in their gifts and bring the presents in to set in their own display. It may take a while to unwrap every single one of them, but the royal family loved their denizens enough to do for them. Chara even got a few extra gifts from her friends, including more anime, perfume , a bandanna with abs, and a pet rock. 

Toriel made her sit down in the large recliner that sat centerfold in the living room. Although Toriel and Asgore would step up as the parents, they allowed Chara to open all the gifts. As she peeled open the first one she was greeted with a sweater very much like her own , but still different. The sweater was much smaller, and instead of the green that both Asriel and her often wore, it was a different set of colors. Blue and violet .Chara had a singular stripe on her sweater which signified her teenage status. While Asriel had two strips which signaled that he hadn't passed the age of thirteen. This sweater had four stripes on it, and seemed to be more of a onesie upon closer inspection. 

Seeing the new striped patterned clothing made Chara remember what Toriel and Asgore had told her about the stripes. Although most of the underground had stopped with this particular tradition , it was one that the royal family would hold on to till the end of time. Basically the younger the child was the more stripes that they wore on their clothing. Since Monsters can greatly differ as adults , it made the confusion of mistaking a child for a adult less forgivable. It was why she wore a striped sweater. 

“The blue represents her connection with Sans, her soulmate. The color is a similar one to the one that appears when he uses his magic. The violet is a result of what happens when you mix red and blue together,” Toriel hands had grasped her own as she had explained the reason why her and Asgore had picked the colors. “we do not know much about Frisk yet, but we feel as though the clothing one wears should reflect the person wearing them. Since she has a strong connection with Sans already” she had gesture to where the small heart shaped soul now made its way to Sans, who was eagerly reaching for it. “We thought we should represent that.” Another gift was passed to her by another person. 

It was small but beautifully wrapped. It was wrapped in orange wrapping paper, and blue ribbons. 'From the Gaster Family' the little tag on it read. Chara carefully opened it, to reveal two boxes. Opening one of the boxes she saw a ruby red heart pendant on the black string , the other box revealed the same necklace. One of them was for her, and she place it on herself before setting the box holding the twin on Frisk's clothes. 

The box from Alphys and Undyne revealed a educational 'I can read' type anime video. Although she was not sure how much Asgore and Toriel would want to use it she set it down with Frisk's stuff. Napstation as usual made a dramatic show about the gifts he was giving her, and set down a button next to her. “Darling, you simply must press this button , if you ever need anything. NTT would be honor to provide you with anything that you need.”

“OK , thank you a lot Napstation” 

“Of course darling~,” he danced around excitedly. “Did you know that NTT and I are now working to produce many kid friendly shows to celebrate the arrival of Princess Frisk!” Napstation basically exploded with excitement about his announcement. Although Chara did not really know about what to really expect from the robot's children show , she thought that it would be good either way because Napstation put a lot of work into whatever he did. 

After many hours of opening gifts from her monsters, Chara had felt very exhausted. All of Frisk's new gifts and a surprising amount for her, and her adoptive family had been open and placed in a large pile. After they cleaned up and her guest left Chara made her way to her room and passed out.


	27. Cloud Burst

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frisk is born.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is out so late, things got kind of intense today. Please enjoy~.

The day had come. The day that Chara both dreaded and held a small glimmer of excitement for. The day that Frisk was born. It appeared as though it would go like any other day. Chara had decided that despite her recent lack of motivation to leave the house or anything that today she wanted to go out. She longed to explore the many caverns that the underground contained. Asriel had even begun telling her about mysterious unexplored regions of the underground that were kind of dangerous . Although she had never really been the most adventurous person prior to her relocating to the underground, she had became more confident as she gained more friends. As she stared out the window she pondered her actions. She decided that even though she was confined for now to the area around New Home she would wonder around it. She was only around thirty seven weeks, so she had some time or so she thought. Gaster had told her that most humans didn't even give birth until forty weeks , so she figured that she was safe for a minute. 

'Hey , do you think that you can come over? I kinda want to take a walk today.' she sent a message to Papyrus. He hasn't been coming over as frequently because Chara hasn't been leaving the house as much. She would be lucky if he wasn't in the midst of a nap. 

Luckily for her , he seemed to have received the message rather quickly. A shift in the air of the room confirmed it for her as she whirled around only to face his typical orange hoodie. “heya kiddo” he greeted the smaller human girl with a slight yawn as he stepped back a little to give her some space. 

“You're only one year older than me now. Quit calling me kiddo!” Chara said with false anger. She understood why he would greet her in that manner, she was adopted by Toriel who was a goat monster. 

“where do you wanna go?” he asked. 

“I just want to take a little walk. It feels as though I haven't left the house in years.” Chara complained as she lead him out of her room and towards the common area. Asgore was still in the house, but Toriel had left for work as the queen and Asriel attended the little school in Snowdin. Papyrus tested out of the school early on with a claim that he was too lazy for school. She wasn't sure how monster school really compared to most human schools, as she never attended one. When she saw school children , often she appeared in the middle of all of them. Some of the human schoolkids looked older, while some of them looked younger. Chara decided in a split second that she would check out the new aquarium that had recently opened up in New Home. She gave Asgore a hug as she left the house. When she made it to the aquarium at New Home she was delighted at the blue fish tanks and the lively fish that she saw. Some of the fish monsters in the aquarium told her about a 'Onion-San' that remained out in Waterfall. They wanted to live in the aquarium but there was no room for them. Chara could empathize with being left along and quickly decided that she would go and visit him. 

The walk home was swift , due to the time of day there was not many monsters on the streets. Chara was satisfied though. She sat in her room preparing to read a book, recently she had become better at reading and was now reading small chapter books. Papyrus went to talk to Asgore before he left. The pain was sudden , but overwhelming. Chara did not like to raise her voice above a certain point , but the book dropping must have caught the attention of her adoptive father as he came rushing in from the kitchen. Papyrus rushed after him but he appeared to be much more confused. He turn to Papyrus barking urgent orders to the younger male. Chara couldn't quite make out what was said. As she was now curling up into a ball, she felt something wet in the direction of her legs. She tried to move around to avert the pain but Asgore stopped her. “Try to stay still, I know it hurts. I am trying to get Gaster and Toriel here now.” 

A series of pops signaled Papyrus's returns , but the shutting of the door pronounced his departure . Toriel swiftly approached her , giving her comforting words and loving advice. Chara could only really focus on the pain. Gaster prepared a syringe , he attempted to communicated his intentions the best that he could to the barely cognizant Chara. 

“This is the last step to pregnancy. It is also one of the riskiest and painful. I am going to give you a medicine that will help you with this. Although your memory of this event might be a little...blurry” he explained as he examined the fluid in the syringe looking for air bubbles. Chara nodded in agreement, she didn't care if she forgot this portion of this event. She felt as though Frisk wouldn't hold it against her anyways. With her consent , he injected Chara with the substance. 

Gaster was surprised. Although he suspected that the bond that Sans shared with Frisk would play a role in a premature delivery he was counting on the courtesy of a few more weeks. Frisk would need to be closely watched for a few weeks to be sure that she had no severe health conditions on account of her coming out a week or so early. Since she had discovered her soulmate if there were any problems, he might be able to feed more magic foods to Sans, which he would naturally share with Frisk. Although magic had the potential to harm humans if used with a beneficial intention it could also heal them. 

As he thought about the potential outcomes, he felt more drained and tired. He had been up another night searching for answers in the blueprints. The machine on them could, would ,should kill him, but he could feel that there was a way to do this correctly. There was a way that he could avoid his death and improve the condition of monster kind. Perhaps this would be something he would bring up to Undyne , it may not be her level of expertise exactly but her opinion wouldn't hurt. He had tried to get Papyrus's opinion on the matter, but it was quickly shut down. He knew about the machine, and he had said if he found evidence of it that he would destroy it. As he quieted his thoughts he got to work on his human patient. It was a shame , a girl this young should never have to go through this pain. A girl this young would experience shame. He was glad that his dear friends adopted the girl and her...kin? Yes, Gaster would call Frisk and Chara kin. He was sure that his friends intended on raising both girls as daughter, but they allowed the titles to remain ambiguous. As he thought more on his friends the more that he felt a deep admiration of them. 

Four hours had past. Although he knew that this would be considered a short labor, it seemed to have been aided by the magic food within their systems. To his surprise several things seemed normal or abnormal in the post labor. Firstly Chara had looked as though she was just a sleeping child, even with the mess that Toriel was working to clean up as he working on cleaning Frisk. Asgore was mostly working to begin dressing Frisk. Picking out her first outfit, booties, gloves, and beanie hat. The second abnormal thing was that Frisk appeared to be perfectly healthy. She screamed as soon as she was exposed to the air. In the house , because he could not find someone to watch Sans on short noticed, his own son's crying echoed back. This seemed to quiet both of them , as Frisk quit crying and opened her eyes to reveal golden eyes. She appeared to be fine, she passed the Apgar test that was described in his human health books. She was pink and reactive to her environment. Of course there would be more test but for now , she seemed fine. He would need to screen her blood ,and give her a auditory test to see if she was ailed by any hearing diseases. He for now would check Chara to be sure that nothing was wrong with her.


	28. Agog

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans meets Frisk in person for the first time ; Papyrus is worried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess since last night I published the chapter so late, today I am posting it early as compensation . Sorry if it is kind of a mess, insomnia has struck me again.

Although it had only been a few moments since his father had showed up to aid his ward. Papyrus felt as though it had been eternity. Sans seemed excessively fussy today, wailing as he attempted to throw himself off of his older brother. Recently he had began creeping around. Laying on his stomach and propelling himself forward. Since the bond had formed with Frisk he had seemed more productive in a sense. Papyrus did not really know if it were the effect of the determination that composed Frisk's soul that held such an effect, but it seemed to be good for the baby bones as he seemed to be passing milestones rather quickly. He now held the ability to scoot at a rapid pace, crawling would come soon and then walking. Papyrus sat on the couch with his little brother. The tantrum seemed to increase, and he contemplated taking his brother on a walk or away from the house. It didn't sound like the best idea though., and might only served to cause more stress for himself and the other occupants of the house. He had observed the reserved behavior of his father recently. He had been discussing a plan to get Gaster back to work or at least out of the house so that he could investigate the source of the strain with Asgore before everything went down. 

This is not to really say that he saw Chara and Frisk as some kind of burden. In fact he began to think of Chara as a friend. He had thought of confiding to her about his recent scrutiny of his father. But with everything that was currently going on for Chara , Papyrus didn't want to add to her stress. She would try to directly involve herself in some compacity . Papyrus knew something was up with his father and although he was the laziest monster in the underground he would go along doing this the correct way. As he thought about his home situation he worked tirelessly to quiet Sans, bouncing him on his knee as if it were a pony. It was not effective. He began to pretend to walk Sans on the ground. Sans feet reached for the ground, and kicked out as if trying to run to Chara's room. Papyrus sighed loudly , standing up to walk Sans around the room. He thought about taking Sans home, but Gaster's mood might worsen if he discovered that his sons left without him. Although Papyrus wasn't typically scared or hesitant about the possibility of upsetting Gaster, this behavior made him a bit unpredictable.

Then there was silence. One could drop a pen on one side of the house and hear it in the other. Sans had looked over to the direction of Chara's room. If Papyrus picked Sans up he might have seen the dark look that usually befitted his father and himself. The empty eye sockets scanned the room intensely. A cry echoed from that chamber of the house. Papyrus felt his heart plummet as he worried about his friend, but Sans began to coo and murmur happily. Figuring that if Frisk and Sans were OK he and the others would be able to cope he sat numbly on the couch. His brother's large blue orbs had their pupils shaped in different ways, one was a star another a heart. 

Asgore left the room. As he made his way to the living room he appeared to be holding a small bundle with in his large hands. The blue blanket that was a gift by one of the many monsters in the underground he sat on the couch now across the room from where Papyrus held the now calm Sans. Sans's pupils now both held heart shapes and was directed directly towards the small bundle. Asgore noticed the attention of Sans , and shifted the bundle in order to showcase the new life. Sans beamed happily as he met his soulmate for the first time face to face. Frisk opened her eyes. Although she was nursing a bottle of powder milk , she seemed to hold a deep conversation with Sans. Gold eyes met blue and held contact for several minutes before turning back to her bottle. Sans seemed satisfied with this and turned back his full attention to Papyrus gripping a random feature on his face. Although Sans might have been satisfied , Papyrus wasn't. 

“is she ok?' he contemplated asking the question. But in the end he really couldn't resist. 

“Gaster is checking on her now. She seems to be OK, from a regular examination. Just tired.” he tilted his head shifted some of the blonde hair fell to the side of the tilt. Frisk seemingly as curious as Sans was grasped eagerly at the blonde strains. “Ah, no. Lets get you outta my hair,” he disengaged the curious fingers from his hair. “Gaster said that Frisk might be a little more at risk because she was born a little before the norm from humans. He got some blood work from her a while ago , I suppose we will be getting the results soon.” he apparently decided to say what was really on his mind.

“yeah you should...,” as the judge Papyrus could judge without really engaging in battle. With a quick scan he could see that Frisk was not suffering from any injuries. She appeared to be at fullest health. “from what I could tell she seems healthy.” 

“Gaster said that she might even be a little healthier than most human babies. Apparently this could be attributed to the magic in monster food,” Asgore explained hopefully . Papyrus would have to wait until Toriel or his father came out to find out about Chara. Sans fell into a nap. Papyrus was expecting him to be more insistent to be near his soulmate, but he wasn't complaining. He himself felt like a nap ,but it would warrant some unsavory reaction from Gaster. Hopefully he would not have to wait long.


	29. Cognizant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frisk and Chara meet. Gaster talks to Papyrus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guess who has insomnia again? So yeah I am posting really early (midnight where I live). I realized I made a mistake earlier in my story Muffet and Grillby are swapped in underswap which I kind of forgot about. I might go back and fix that soon.

Her eyes blurred as she opened them. The light emitting from the lamps in her room streaked as she attempted to observed her surroundings. She attempted to sit up using her arms, but was quickly told to lay back down. This confused Chara to an extent, she was fine besides the dreariness. She mumbled as such as she protested. 

“Chara , it is best if you just rest for a while my child.” The queen and her adoptive mother explained as she pulled new covers back on top of Chara. Chara began to recall the events that lead to her being confined to her bed by her mother. Her eyes widened a little more,as she glanced up to her mother who now sat on the bed with her at her legs. Similar eyes to her own echoed back from her adoptive mother.

“Can I see her?” Chara had asked. She was so curious about the tiny life that she ran away for. The tiny life that she started anew for . The tiny life that she had done so much for over the duration of their existence. Frisk. 

Toriel held her gaze, she was sure that Chara and Frisk were both healthy . She had a way of knowing these things when it concerned her children. Nodding her answer, she called for Asgore to reenter the room. Gaster whom presence was just noted, exited the room. He would need to check on his own sons, while the other family had their moment. With a faint smirk he pondered how Asriel would react to the appearance of his new baby sister. No doubt there would be some resulting ruckus from the child. 

Papyrus sat on the holding onto a tired Sans. He wondered what mischief his younger son got up to while he was occupied. He gestured for Papyrus to pass Sans to him . Eagerly he embraced his sleeping son tightly. He had sworn after his own mate died that he would not take place in another labor. His own love had died in the deliverance of his younger son , and while that had caused him much grief in the last few months he dealt with it. He was happy that he got his younger son, but he would always miss them. Their kind smile, their loving gaze. The memories would overwhelm him often, but he could put on a brave face for his boys. They did not need a absent father, or a broken home. So despite the burning in his soul he would hold off for them. He would not think about that smile, that laugh , the kindness that had been instilled in both his sons. He felt a bit guilty stating it , but he was glad that his sons took after him more in appearance. The less he had thought about her , the better. The less that he dreamt about reunited with her , the better. But after today's accomplishment, perhaps he would indulge in a drink. Not enough to cause more alarm in Papyrus , but enough to celebrate the no losses of today. Muffet served good drinks. Papyrus had been working hard for months, he also deserved some of the spider's honey tonight. 

“is she ok?” the unusually quiet voice of his oldest son broke the silence as he exited his thought process. Papyrus must have been worried, he was never really this blunt .

“She appears to be fine. I have completed my post-labor checkup on her. Thanks to the monster food any excessive damage seems to have been halted,” he paused to gage his oldest son's reaction to the news pertaining to Chara. Although his older son might have been good at hiding his emotions from others, Gaster was a master at decoding him. The slightest quick of his eyebrows, or widening of his calm grin would betray him. Of course Papyrus still thought that he was 'slick' as the kids called it these days. He would play it cool and think that he would come out unscathed. “ I will be closely monitoring her and Frisk over these next few weeks in order ,to be completely sure that nothing is amidst . If you notice anything strange about her behavior you should let me know.” Gaster did not want to frighten his son. In had in fact wanted to tease him, it seemed that he did not have the right mood to go about doing this right now. The buzzing on his phone distracted him. Seems as though Papyrus might be able to see how Chara is doing himself .

Chara had waited eagerly. For the first time that Chara had learned about the tiny life, she would be able to hold her physically. Though she had embraced the bulge in her stomach in a protective scenarios, this would be different. Asgore came in carrying in a sleeping Frisk. He held a baby bottle in one had and her in another. Asgore's hands dwarfed the tiny new born girl. It was almost comical . He brought Frisk over to Chara's side, lowering her to Chara's arms. Chara eagerly transferred her and began to look at her. Although Chara did not have really any expectations, she did not want Frisk to look like the man that did this to them. She luckily did not seem to have to deal with this, although Frisk was a rather pink color, Toriel and Asgore quickly explained that she might change colors later on as she adjusted to life. She would perhaps adopt a healthy tan as she aged. She seemed to have a few strains of dark brown hair, but not very many as she was a new born. As Frisk opened her eyes for the first time she felt entranced. Eyes the color of Monster currency greeted her with a loving regard. She almost could feel the metaphorical arrow of cupid hitting her heart as she sat there examining the girl that she had birthed. The girl that would soon become her little sister.

Chara could not do right by her, Asgore and Toriel had raised Asriel. Asriel was one of the best behaved boys ( or really children ) she had ever met. Boys back at her village before her abduction were rude, and would treat her as though she were a lesser creature in comparison to them. Often they would strike her, and chase her telling her that she was destined to belong to them. That was no life that she would let Frisk endure. Asriel was sweet , and although he was a bit ditzy at times that was no huge fault. She also was not very concerned about Sans. Although Papyrus had come off really scary to her , he was just protective of his family. She had began to feel as though she could really vent to him, he would give her advice or help her if she needed it. He also sometimes gave her an odd feeling. It didn't seem like the dread or the anxiety that she could expect from human boys, it was different. It was warm in a good way ,and she didn't really have too many words to describe it. 

“Chara could we let in Gaster and Papyrus in for check ups? Gaster said that Papyrus would probably be worried sick about you .” Asgore asked as he watched the exchange between his two adoptive daughters. 

At the mention of Papyrus she felt her heart began to race. She considered him a good friend. She didn't want to be embarrassed in front of him. Although Papyrus understood some of her feelings about the pregnancy she did not want Papyrus to be in the room while she gave birth. The room was cleaned though. Toriel made sure that she was not a huge mess , nor that she smelled bad. Not really seeing that much of reason to cause alarm Chara hesitantly agreed.


	30. Defrosting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today was a very busy day. I got to this later than I would have liked, but I do not think I would have very much time to type up today's/tomorrows? ( it is now pass midnight ) chapter. Please Enjoy~

As he entered the room , he could feel his soul start to freeze over. He knew that his father said that Chara was fine, but what if something went wrong in the short duration that he went away? What is she was suffering and dying and there was nothing that anyone could do ? The thoughts ran rampant in his head , yet he did not think that he would to display them to the occupants of the room. What if those horrid thoughts caused the accident that would lead to the death of everyone that he loved and cherished? Chara or Frisk could die, than his brother would die, and then his father would die. Then he would be alone. Some would claim that Papyrus was rightfully the laziest monster in the underground , though they would also have to add in the most cautious to that moniker. Papyrus worked multiple jobs only a few months ago , worried that something could happen after his mother passed away. Papyrus let out a deep sigh. He would play it off as though nothing is wrong. He was good at doing that. As he entered the room , he placed the typical false smile on his skull that typically lived there. 

She lied on the bed . Her short light brown almost red hair now touched the top of her shoulders . When she had first come down her it only danced around her neck. He had long since gained the permission to run his phalanges through her soft hair, since it was now longer he felt the urge resurface. Her face seemed redder than usual, though she had a naturally doll like face it seemed more apparent now. She stared down at the bundle with a loving curiosity. She almost seemed not to notice him as she was entranced by her younger twin. Though they were very similar looking , Papyrus knew what to look for. Chara had a lighter complexion and hair, and wider eyes. Frisk seemed to have a different eye shape, and darker hair. Though Papyrus would be paying attention to the two, as he would always want to be able to tell the difference between the two. 

When she finally noticed that Papyrus had entered the room , she shot him a gleaming smile. He felt his soul shake, and he return her smile with a small but real one. Although they thought that they were being secretive , they were being observed by their parents. He approached her still not really paying that much time to the present adults. 

“are you alright?” he started off by asking while doing a little check on her. She seemed to be alright , but he was still very worried for her. 

“Yeah I am fine. How are you doing Papyrus?” She answered his question and tried to ask one of her own. Although Papyrus was somewhat caught off guard by her questioning of him , he was not about to let her turn this around on him. Chara was usually the type of person who worried much more about others before herself . He needed to be sure of her safety. 

“i am fine. are you feeling any pain anywhere?” he questioned .

“Papyrus please don't worry , I am fine. You seem tired, are you OK?” Chara questioned , reaching out for his hand. Papyrus contemplated removing his hand, not wanting to give anything for his father to tease him over but let Chara hold it. He would regret hurting her feelings more than he would regret being harassed about her affections later. 

“Chara I am fine. you are the one that just went through something . are you sure that you are ok? my father is here , he could help you out if anything is wrong .e-” 

“Papyrus I told you that I am fine. Everything is normal , or as normal as this could be.” Chara gently squeezed his hand giving Papyrus a slight frown. What could she do to show this bone head that she was good? Their parents lingered quietly in the background. Though they would usually let the pining teens have their time alone, they felt as concerned about Papyrus. Chara would lie about something as simple as something being wrong with her. A while ago when she first heard the tale of the barrier, she had offered to give them her soul after Frisk was born. They managed to talk this notion out of her, but it had caused a lot of worry at the time. 

“HEY PUNK , WE CAME AS SOON AS WE GOT THE NEWS! LOOK WE EVEN GOT ASRIEL FROM SCHOOL!” A booming voice erupted from the door frame. Alphys stood there a squirming Asriel in her grasp. Undyne stood bent over next to her, panting and exhausted. Alphys had made her run at her pace, which almost gave her a heart attack. She did not agree to the running portion of the trip. Napstation erupted from behind the group, trying to see the little baby. This time the camera did not trail him. This movement allowed Asriel to break free of the lizard women's grasp. Chara let her hand fall from the hold that once conjoined her and Papyrus . Asriel ran swiftly to both of his sisters. 

Frisk who was resting , opened her golden eyes to regard the monster who was her older brother. Something felt familiar to Asriel about her. He chalked it up to the resemblance to Chara, and the time that he had spent trying to communicate with her. She lifted her chubby arms in a attempt to grab the furry face. Asriel giggled fidgeting his hands. 

“Can I hold her too?” he asked mainly his parents turning around to look at them. 

“Only if you sit down. You have to be really careful with her. She is very fragile right now” Toriel spoke moving forward to remove Frisk from Chara's embrace. Chara let her go, although she would want to hold her more. She wanted to speak to her friends too. Although the new occupants were interested in Frisk they also wanted to check in on Chara . Asriel would have time with his new sister first. Asriel eagerly plotted on the ground. He was very excited to meet the baby. He had been practicing baby skills with Sans with the help of Papyrus and Gaster. He had also been reading various books on the subject of big brotherhood. He was eager for the days that he would protect his adorable baby sister from that dragons that might try to eat her. He would be her valiant knight. Just like the big brother in the book.


	31. Assuage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aftershocks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Insomnia , need I say more. Good morning dear readers . A long chapter for your enjoyment~

“Hey punk are you OK?” the gruff voice of her friend along with her scaly hand knocked her out of her observation of her brother's introduction with Frisk. With a question that had been asked far too many times today. Though she understood why they were asking her, and she didn't have in her to be mean to those who showed her any kindness, Chara had to admit mentally that she tired of the whole thing. She was contemplating planning a special with Napstation to introduce Frisk and tell the entire population of the underground that she was all good and thriving. Knowing the robot, it would turn into a musical number , if not an entire musical. Further evolving into multiple dance numbers and multiple characters played by Napstation. At the moment Chara did not have enough energy to plan a cohesive show nor perform one. The idea of Napstation playing Papyrus made her chuckle aloud. This caused her friends to become startled as the began to move around parts of her body to make sure there were no bruises or cuts. Knowing Alphys she would take it up with Gaster , probably starting another huge rift between Papyrus and the angry lizard women. 

“Please don't worry guys. I am alright, just kind of tired...” Chara explained her out of character laughter at the normal question. They seemed to buy it , after all she had just created new life. Of course she would be exhausted. 

“If you need anything darling, just let me know~” Napstation said in a fancy way. Pulling a NTT scrunchie out of a mysterious pocket he pulled Chara's smooth strands into a ponytail. Chara complied without much complaint, since he didn't have his camera he probably needed to advertise NTT somehow. 

“Y-Yeah . I am t-t-trying to create a new a-app that allows you to l-look up the symptoms of any s-s-sickness , so now y-you can b-be s-sure that y-you don't have a-anything. I w-would download it on your p-phone, but it is still in the p-prototype phase.” Undyne decided to take the next talking piece in conversation. Chara was glad that she did so, because now that she did they wouldn't talk about her being OK anymore. Undyne lowered her voice and her stutter seemed to return worse than usual. Although one might say it was because Undyne was a pretty hard-core introvert there was a peculiar variable. Gaster was there. Undyne admired the man, but was nervous around him because he was her boss. She didn't want to mess up around him, because he could strip her of her position. She would lose all the friends she had worked so hard to get . Nobody would want to be around her anymore . Alphys wouldn't even look at her anymore if she wasn't the next royal scientist. That is why she couldn't afford to mess up. 

“That sounds like a marvelous invention idea my dear assistant , I should be returning to the lab soon. I simply cannot wait to see how the prototype works!” Somehow in the midst of her explanation of her new invention to Chara , Gaster had come over to the group. Glancing back to where the three older monsters once stood she saw Asgore and Toriel fully invested in watching Asriel and Frisk. Asriel was reading Frisk a book and talking to her. Gaster made her immediately want to rush back to the lab and deep clean it. Technically she wasn't really supposed to be living there, Gaster and Toriel allowed it however. So long as she kept it clean. The ramen wrappers strewn all over the floor definitely violated that stipulation . 

Letting out a nervous chuckle Undyne answered her boss : “I cannot wait to show it to you , though it is still only in the first stages of development.” 

“Oh . How long have you been thinking about this than?” Gaster questioned her. He genuinely thought it sounded like a great invention for the young scientist to really get the ball rolling.

“A-Admittedly only a s-s-short time a-a-after m-meeting the human...” Undyne braced herself for criticism from the man. Her minor inventions were nothing compared to the great feats that the older scientist had completed. 

“Being inspired by a friend is great. Not only do you help your friend , but you help others.” Gaster smiled fondly at his successor. Undyne smiled at him , shyly thanking him. 

“Yeah ! What your doing is GREAT! You can maybe even help someone with Hanaki Disease!!!” Alphys screamed out. Although Undyne was flattered by her crush complementing her , she was more embarrassed at the prospect of having to come forth with her lies to Alphys. Or having to explain the fictional disease to her boss, and his boss. 

“Yes. Indeed” Instead of the question expected by the outburst , Gaster simply smirked . Exiting the conversation he engaged in another with Papyrus, Chara, and Napstation. Napstation seemed to be saying something about shipping Papyrus and Chara. 

“I have a lot of evidence . Sweet heart , I know he is your sugar skull. Why do you hold hands so much if you are not a couple?” The red on Chara's face seemed redder than usual ,and Papyrus seemed to manifest a orange blush on his face. They were her OTP too, but he was going about this all wrong! Before she could say anything to the offending robot , Gaster came in. 

“Chara one of your diagnoses came in . Your blood work shows nothing worrisome ,” he sent an almost undetectable mischief filled look to Chara and Papyrus. Although Chara didn't exactly know Gaster to well , so she could not really decipher the tilted gleeful look that was sent her way, Papyrus knew that whatever Gaster was about to say was probably going to be a joke. “I am afraid that your vision... is lacking... you would be greatly benefited if you wore glasses”. Napstation rose a hand to his mouth. He felt kind of like a jerk for considering the hand holding to be a sign of a relationship. Though to be fare Undyne and Alphys also thought that the pair were involved. It almost made sense now why he had seen Chara act really clumsy. One fan sent him a video of her almost walking into lava in hot land. At the time he thought it a ploy to capture her honey-bum's attention. But it was just her horrible vision. He almost felt like laughing now. He was so off the mark, should he apologize? Should he make a dramatic exit , no that would almost be as rude as Papyrus. He would apologize. 

“Oh, My. I guess that washes away most of my evidence . Can you ever forgive me darling ?” Napstation clasp his hands together in a dramatic demonstration to showcase his feelings. If Chara was as pessimistic as Papyrus she might tell him to screw off. Papyrus despite being greatly annoyed at the current bit his ectoplasmic tongue. Chara made her own decisions. 

“Of course I can forgive you. Don't worry about it” Chara answered her friend back. Napstation hugged her tightly thanking her for being so understanding. He excused himself seeing that Asriel was about to relinquish Frisk back to the secure hold of her to their monster parents. 

“So, um doctor. What condition do I have?” though Chara typically did not ask many questions regarding the whole medicine thing yet, she was curious. 

“he was just joking Chara.” Papyrus answered the question for Gaster who sent another impish look toward the pair. 

“Indeed I was. I saw that you two were kind of uncomfortable with his questioning, so I interjected. Though I will not state my personal opinions on the tenderness that you two give each other , I do not believe that you are exactly fond of others prodding in ,” he answered Chara. It was impossible to miss the way that their faces lit up at his suggestion. Chara turn almost as red as her eyes, and Papyrus matched his favorite sweatshirt. They averted eyes away from each other. It was very endearing. Although he could not say that he liked the idea of Chara at first , he quickly warmed up to her in the short time that she had been here. “If you wish I could give you some false glasses, they would provide you a alibi but not actually impair your vision like actual prescription glasses might.” 

Chara deliberated for a moment. She always thought that glasses had a way of making a person look more intelligent. The boys that wore glasses in the village were toted as the future leaders. The smartest of the bunch. Taking a glance at Papyrus also helped make her decision. He was flustered by the thought of being in a relationship with her. She could understand why he might not want to . A monster with a human was kind of weird . What if Papyrus was interested in someone else ? A rumored relationship might deter any romantic prospects for him, and Chara didn't want to do that to him. The false blindness would benefit them both. “I think that sounds like a good idea Doctor.” 

As the two of them conversation on this Toriel and Asriel left to get an after school snack. Asgore stood behind to watch the other monsters interact with Frisk. Napstation was currently holding her, trying to get her to say : 'Uncle Nap Nap'. The scene was so cute that Asgore did not have the heart to tell him that Frisk would not likely talk for a long time. She stared at him in confusion and slapped his screen a few times in the way that a cat might. Napstation did not seem to really notice or care though , and persisted in trying to get her to say it. Alphys and Undyne patiently waited their turn, though Alphys was running out of patience it seemed. Tapping her foot in a rhythmic manner as she glared at the robot. Although Frisk did not seem like a really temperamental baby in the short duration of time that Asgore had known her , he was a bit perplexed. He tried to see what was wrong with the scenario. Eventually after a short search he found the odd factor in the equation. Sans sat in his father's arm who was across the room chatting to Papyrus and Chara. His odd blue patterned orbs fixed on Frisk, and after a while her eyes moved to greet his. They seemed satisfied at the established contact as both turned away from one another. Asgore pondered briefly about their relationship , and how it may evolve in the future. When they went to the surface in a few generations a documentation of their relationship may provide a viable resource. 

Asgore's attention was snapped away by the screaming of Toriel's old pupil: “Alright screen for brains it is our turn.” The young monster women screamed while gesturing to a baking timer that he had given them when the group had first came over to prevent a fight between the lizard and the robot. Hesitantly the robot ended his turn, handing the human baby to Undyne to the slight ire of Alphys. She quickly got close to Undyne, resulting in a faint red blush rising to the fish women's face. 

“I think it would be nice if we had some one day,” she said calmly resting her chin on Undyne's shoulder. The poor women's face exploded in red, and if Alphys wasn't there he would worry about her fainting. She attempted to stutter something in response .Luckily for Undyne Alphys changed the subject before she could really comment . Young love was something special. He chuckled lightly as he observed the two.


	32. Lucid Vapor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chara and Papyrus talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is on the short end ,since I put out a long one yesterday. I am thinking about starting a new fic. Same ships, probably more classic depictions of the characters, original au I think . I would want to complete this one first though. If I get really impatient I might pump them out on alternating days, but for now it is just a idea.

As the weeks went by Chara found herself frequently visited by friends. Over time though something became abundantly apparent. Chara desired to take the underground by its horns, and she did not mean her father. Rather she wanted to experience life as a monster. She did not have the burden of noticeably carrying Frisk with in herself , so she could take more risk. Their souls despite being twins in a way , were no longer intertwined like when Frisk was still inside of her. Although she could often read Frisk's soul. For example she could tell when Frisk was hungry, or wanted to be with Sans. She did not know whether this was because she had birthed and carried Frisk for so long that she knew it like that back of her hand, or if this was because Frisk was so similar to Chara. Chara found that she did not care much, Frisk was someone that she would always love. As many predicted Frisk soon wore a tanner skin that Chara. But from a distance they would be indistinguishable from one another. 

“Hey Papyrus can I ask you something?” Chara asked out of the blue. She was currently walking through Waterfall, on her way home from school with Asriel and Papyrus. Although she was no longer pregnant Papyrus was asked to escort her around. Not only did it ensure that none would attempt to harm the princess, Chara also had grown used to the persistent company. Recently threats have been mailed recently to the Dreamurrs household. The letters talked about stealing the soul of either Chara , Frisk , or both and gaining power nearly unheard of, and surpassing the royals. Although the videos from the lab had been examined there appeared to be no trace of the monster sending these threats. Letters would fly out from the outskirts of New Home where there were no cameras. Currently it was suspected that monsters from the unknown region were behind the threatening letters , but there was no way to truly narrow it down at the moment. 

“yea , what's on your mind?” he answered lazily . If Gaster was here he would yell at him for his poor posture. He was so crouched that Chara nearly touched his chin. Chara stopped all of a sudden and he walked into her. She stretched out one arm stretching Papyrus out again. 

“You knee to stand up straighter, Doctor Gaster would tell you so as well if he were here,” Chara said as she made Papyrus went back to his original size. The top of her head only reached his chest area when he was standing his tallest. He was a really tall monster. The palm of her hand was really warm ,and Papyrus almost thought about resisting. Not only would it make her mad which reminded him of a angry puppy, but it would allow him to feel the warmth radiating from her palms. “Anyways, I have noticed something.” Chara was about to broach a probably more sensitive subject. Although she wanted to be more discreet , Asgore wanted her to be home quickly so that there was less risk. Asriel was currently examining a echo flower, too caught up in the whispering of the flower. 

“have you two join-t forces? anyways what have you noticed?” he joked , the buzzing from his phone was probably his father saying that he already noticed the frame. Gaster had gone back to work. Since Asgore was mostly more of a homemaker than a king, he had agreed to watch Sans while Gaster was at work. It was also more of a convenient arrangement because Sans and Frisk were pretty obsessed with each other. Often Frisk would have her tummy time in the company of Sans. Sans would play with random toys and Frisk would watch him. Asgore would work on chores in the general vicinity, never straying out of eyesight of the two. 

“You haven't been smoking as much.” Chara said, she fought the urge to say more but felt as though leaving a loophole for Papyrus would be better. Asriel ran to another echo flower to listen to its message. 

Papyrus paused. It wasn't that it was a question that he couldn't answer. It was a question that he wasn't anticipating. He hadn't even noticed the lack of cigarettes in his hoodies . He would sometimes contemplate smoking a cigarette or two, but to be honest he wasn't really think about it a lot. Gaster always gave him lectures telling him it would be hard to quit cold turkey. Guess he wouldn't have to complain about his fowl behavior any longer. With a shrug he answered her statement: “no , i haven't”.

“Tibia honest I don't think that you have had a cigarette in months. I guess I just wanted to know if everything was alright...,” Chara began to walk away , suddenly losing confidence if this was really a conversation for her to have with Papyrus. Sure she cared about him to a great extent, but was it really her business to question him on such a matter. 

Seeing her begin to walk away he place his skull on top of her head enjoying the feeling of her silken strands against the underside of his mandible. Skeletal arms covered by a similar orange hoodie to his favorite wound around her shoulders. They might have been embarrassed , but they were currently in the blind spots of the camera and Asriel was really focused on a certain flower at the moment. “i get why your asking, i appreciate your concern too. i guess i have just bean busy lately. others are more stressed when i do it, since the urge isn't as strong as it was when i began i think i will keep from doing it”. Papyrus felt that since he had been focused on her safety , and her in general most of his distraction from his vice came from her. He thought about thanking her for her part, but it might come off kind of weird. He released her from his grip and straightened up . Asriel deciding that he listened to enough murmurs from the lovely flowers reappeared. 

“ARE YOU TWO DONE FLIRTING YET ?” he exclaimed. Chara's face flooded red, and Papyrus blushed. 

“we weren't flirting.” Papyrus retorted. Giving Chara a wide girth in case she wanted to help deny her brothers accusation further.

“The echo flower said that you were. They also wondered how half skeleton half human babies would look, they said some kind of mean stuff after that.” Asriel said, rubbing his nose while he did so. 

“you should show me the flower” Papyrus kind of demanded whilst keeping the lazy tone that masked his intentions. Asriel guided them to a flower . It stood tall and beautiful like the rest of it's peers , yet it radiated such a ugly message. 

' A human and a skeleton , I wonder how that pairs offspring would look. I bet it would look like a half bake disgusting human. Organs and bones for all to see. I might have to take action to prevent such an abomination from being born. Eek-' vomiting sounds began to pour out of the flower before too much more sound could escape from the flower a gaster blaster was summoned to destroy the offensive plant turning it quickly to dust . Turning quickly to face Chara, Papyrus and Asriel were prepared to calm any fears that she might have had. She stood there stone faced and neutral. Papyrus could tell that she was trying to hide her emotions from Asriel, not wanting him to know how such a disgusting message could effect her. 

“Let's get going.” she urged. Papyrus did not have the heart to try to resist her at the moment.


	33. Melancholia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good morning ~

The trek home was quiet and bland. Peculiar considering who exactly he was walking with. Chara he could kind of understand . Although the girl had made it her personal mission to befriend the entirety of the underground , she wasn't exactly what one would call a chatterbox. She was a person who would reflect the general energy presented to her. With shy monsters like Hapstablook she would go with the flow, she would sometimes lay on the floor for hours staring at a trashy abyss. Papyrus enjoyed the time at Hapstablook's house. Mostly because he got to nap a lot. He would also get to see Chara go crazy when she attempted to cheer on the snails, at Hapstablook's snail farm. It reminded him that despite the hardship that Chara had already gone through, she was still really young. It made him happy that he got to know her and befriend her, she made him cherish his youth when he never really did that before. On the other hand he had seen her run the duration of the entirety of the underground with Asriel and Alphys for training. He of course did not run , but would teleport to any given destination much to the irritation of Alphys. He remembered those days well with a strong fondness, though he wouldn't comment on it a lot. As she trudged through Hotland he fought the strong urge to reassure her by grabbing her hand. The disgusting message ran through his head again. He had wished that they had left it without listening to it. Chara did not deserve to hear that. He didn't even want to hear that. Not that he was jumping at the idea of having children. 

Asriel tugged on Chara's hand until it loosened and fell into his grasp. Chara seemed dead to the world quietly stepping along with her companions. It wasn't long . Although there would typically be many monsters among the route leading to New Home, often on their way home it was empty. School let out a little earlier than work often did. They must have been on their way quicker than usual. As they made their way to the house Chara and Asriel did not take any detours as they might have if there wasn't such a disturbing topic at hand. When the door was open Chara seemed depressed and went immediately to her room. Though Papyrus felt the strong urge to follow her , at the moment he felt as though it would be more important to tell Asgore what exactly happened. As he approached the living room he heard Asriel explaining the situation to his father. 

“Papyrus can you come here?” Asgore called out to him. He swore there was something creepy in his voice , but complied anyways. Asgore stood in a clean living room, Sans and Frisk at his feet playing with a stuffed bear. “Can you tell me what happened regarding the flower? Asriel tried to explain it , but he said it said some really messed up stuff. He won't tell me what though.” 

“Yes I can.” Asgore told Asriel to go out of the room, he did not want Asriel to hear more demeaning stuff about his sister. “There was a echo flower , at first it said some stuff about me and Chara i presume ...dating, and then it started to say things about half monster human children , like how it would look : 'half-baked' . Lastly the speaker began to say that they may need to take action before a human monster child was born before barfing.” He explained the contents of the echo to the king of monsters. Asgore seemed to radiate anger. A truly unusual look on the king. 

“How did you handle the problem ?” Asgore questioned. This would be the question that made or broke Papyrus's day.

“it made Chara upset so I dusted it. I also did not think that Asriel needed to hear such things about his sisters” Papyrus answered. It seemed to appease the king who sat back to think about how he could correct the scenario. 

“Are you and Chara dating?” Asgore impulsively questioned. 

“no” Papyrus quickly answered. He felt his skull flush. His father always told him to be weary of protective fathers, so being questioned by the king kind of shocked him. 

“How did the rumors get out?” There was no true malice behind the question , just curiosity.

“Napstation started to say that we were dating because of the affection that Chara shows towards me. for example she grabs my hands so we do not get separated , and we joke a lot.” Papyrus answered . He didn't want Asgore to get mad at Napstation , but it was where the rumors initially came from. Ever since Chara got her 'diagnosis' the jabs at their fictional romantic relationship cease to nothing. 

“Hasn't he stopped with that though?” Asgore began to stroke his well maintained blond beard . 

“he has. most of the ratings and call ins do not suggest that the audience loves Chara and thought that we didn't actually have a relationship” he explained. Most monsters didn't put much stock into the thought of the relationship of children. Although the children themselves might take their relations seriously it did not matter much til they got of age. This was mostly because the magic that was required to produce life typically did not take effect until well into adulthood. Perhaps the speaker listening into the echo flower was themselves younger. It was troubling though. A young monster with malice was still a being with malice. They could do harm. The thought also seemed to occur to Asgore. With a soft sigh he responded to Papyrus's explanation. 

“I will tell Toriel to make an announcement regarding the safety of everyone,” he seemed to be deep into thought. “This is supremely worrying. I know that you can handle yourself and Chara, but if this is more than one person it could prove dangerous for even you. I will discuss this matter more when everyone arrives here. For now do you think that you could watch these two? I am going to check on Chara and Asriel.” Asgore asked Papyrus. Papyrus agreed. Although Papyrus might have been more hesitant to watch Frisk he was use to watching Sans, they were pretty much the same in certain aspects. 

Crouching down to their level he began to speak softly to the pair. Oddly enough it appeared as though Sans was grasping one of Frisk's hand. “hey bro, hey Frisk wanna hear a joke ?”.

“MWEH” his brother laughed at him in his odd fashion. 

“What do you call a ghost that attends to school?” Papyrus asked his brother he turned his full attention on to him. Frisk also appeared to be looking up at him. His rather infantile audience would probably not understand his joke , but that never him before. “ School Spirit”. He chuckled . Frisk slapped her hands on the ground as she was splayed on her stomach in an thing called: 'Tummy time'. Sans on the other hand actually threw something at him. Papyrus burst out laughing at his brother outrage. He doubted that they understood the joke , but the reaction was hilarious regardless. 

Asgore stood outside the door. He was the rational one , he was the one who took care of the children while his beautiful wife was at work. He wished that in times like these though that she was home more often. He wasn't the royal one though , she had to be at the castle answering questions and holding courts. It was a blessing that he was aloud to remain home like this , he knew that. But she seemed better at handling matters such as these. “Chara, it is me. Is it OK if I come in?”

He waited for a response , but none came. 

His worry increased and he banged on the door. He didn't know why but this felt urgent. “Chara, I have to come in. I am sorry”. He opened the door. It was unlocked much to his relief. Chara lied on her bed. Curled into a ball , back facing towards him. She shook as she sobbed quietly . She did not seem to really notice him. He contemplated going through with this, but it had to be done. His child did not need a damage mental state or a hurt self esteemed from a deranged individual . He approached his weeping child .

“Chara...,”

She popped up then , pulling her knees to her chest looking at him with redder eyes than normal. She wipe her tears with the sleeve of her sweater attempting to make it appear as though she wasn't crying. Chara did not cry often, but when she did she tried to hide it. She did not like to show her pain to others. 

“It is OK my child. Papyrus informed me about what the echo flower repeated. I wanted to see if you were alright. You do not need to let their cruel words effect you.” Asgore explained as he walked up to his small child. She was always a rather petite girl . He did not know if this was the effects of a tough childhood, as when she did describe her living conditions growing up it did not sound ideal. In fact after one of the appointments with Gaster he explained that she was rather malnourished before she fell down , but appeared to be at a healthy weight now that she resided with the Dreamurrs. Asgore and Toriel took pride in the fact that they were able to nurse their older adoptive child back to health , but it was rather apparent it took a impact on her physically even now. He sat at the end of her bed intending to talk with her until she felt better. 

“What if they try to hurt Sans and Frisk or even Papyrus?” her tone was urgent and saddening all at once as she spoke her concerns to her adoptive father. “What if they try to hurt you and mom, and Asriel?” 

Asgore regarded her with sad eyes. He swept her into his arms. Holding her while she cried. “Hush my child , they will not hurt anyone. I will ensure it. I will be speaking with Toriel and Gaster in order to prevent any nasty incidents.” Asgore explained. : “ We will be having a meeting when Toriel and Gaster arrive. Do you want to talk to Asriel or Papyrus? Or would you like to just be alone ?” 

Sometimes when Toriel or Asriel needed to cry , it was better to just let them. It was unhealthy to hold onto emotions like that. Chara choose to be alone. With a reminder that if she needed any of them they would be just outside her door he left.


	34. Cold Brew

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meetings and Sleeping

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My insomnia caught up with me, it gave me a tiny bit of writer's block. Here you go enjoy~

The night cycle had just begun. Truly the masterpiece that would surely exist forever more in the underground , the gleaming moon that illuminated the dark abyss of the inhabited cavern. Even those who held hatred for the royal family and their followers could surely appreciate the realistic moon. Created by his predecessor it hung just a bit off the ceiling of the crevice . It was formulated so that if the flying monsters ever felt like touching the gleaming shards it would not harm them. Nor would it gift them with any adverse effects. Despite the beckoning night , he held his mug full to the brim with coffee. Although he would hate to see his children ever pick up the habit of coffee, he would not deny that it composed most of his bloodstream at any given moment. 

“We are all here now can we start the meeting ?” Toriel his queen and good friend who sat seated across from him at the Dreamurr's grand table spoke. She appeared to be rather weary as well , though instead of coffee , she choose to sip on a cup of cool tea. 

“Yes , I suppose that we can. This is more of a grown up conversation, so I think it would be best to tell the children our general consensus at the end , or perhaps tomorrow.” Asgore responded to his wife. 

Although Gaster had notice his older son's eager disappearance to the room of Chara , he thought since it involved them they should be welcomed to decide how they would like to take these matters in the future. However he at the moment did not wish to start conflict with the Dreamurrs , so he bite his tongue. 

“As you may or may not know Chara is not widely accepted among the underground. She is tolerated , but there seems to be a hidden distaste for her among the monsters.” Gaster disagreed with Asgore , but choose to not voice it. She seemed to be quiet beloved. On the TV shows and on social media ( yes he had one) she received lots of love. Though it was not very apparent all of the time , especially to the Dreamurrs whom lacked a television set , the views and amount of 'white knights' as his son called them did not lie. He did not know if this was because of the great empathy that monsters typically held for children, or if Chara had really just befriended the underground , but it shouldn't matter. Most monsters would not even think about hurting her. He thought about a way to bring up his disagreement about the statement , but Toriel seemed to do it for him. 

“Chara makes the views of Napstation's show skyrocket, none of the callers ever have anything bad to say about her. There hasn't been conflict at the school , this has been the first instance of a monster really sending threats like this.” Toriel said , including information that Gaster was unaware of. While he had known that they allowed her to go to school he had never really had much knowledge of what went on in there. Though Papyrus accompanied her and Asriel to school , he had long since passed and would have to sit outside or at the back of the classroom. 

“Once is enough for any child of mine Toriel, the threat must be dusted before she is allowed to be back outside.” Asgore icily stated . Gaster had took a sip of his coffee. He was not exactly expecting to get swept into the Dreamurr's family discussion, so was unsure how to act. 

“You said earlier that you thought the speaker might even have been a child. There is no way for us to decipher the monster speaking. Although I agree that one threat is enough for us , I do not condone recklessly slaughtering suspects.” Toriel retorted back to her husband. Gaster's discomfort was growing. 

“Why don't we just train Chara to eliminate the threat herself. If you are that worried about her not being able to handle herself without violence then training her may void that fear until the threat is eliminated.” Perhaps it would have been different words that would have fallen out of his mouth if given more time to think , but it seemed to make the Dreamurrs think. 

“He could have a point, Asriel is supposed to begin his training soon , so that he may be king one day. “ Toriel commented. Typically in monster culture the monster designated to become a ruler has to complete some kind of formal training. Along with a few couple of great feats, considering that the underground was very compact , and not a lot was unexplored it had become a few camping trips and other such mundane activities. 

“Asriel does need to begin training, but Chara doesn't want to hurt anyone. We could teach her more passive ways” Somehow this felt familiar to Gaster. 

“Chara may not be next in line to rule, but I rather Chara keep her life than end up hunted and killed without defenses . Papyrus may not always be around to protect her, why should we risk it?” Toriel ranted at Asgore tired of his refusal to not allow Chara to battle those who might try to do her harm. Although Gaster chose to not to take sides, as he was friends with both of them he was leaning more towards Toriel's view on the matter. Somehow he felt as though Papyrus and Chara were beginning to form a similar relationship to Sans and Frisk. If Chara died, Papyrus would be depressed. 

Asgore seemed to think on it for a moment. He did not want Chara or Frisk to be killed because they had dust on their hands , but he would rather have them alive. The thought of one of his adoptive daughters dying at the hands of his people shook him. He could almost feel the cold grip of sadness entrap his soul at the thought. “They should receive training.”

The sound of her husband's agreement shocked Toriel. Asgore could be very stubborn about these sorts of things when he wished. She was relieved though that they seemed to come to some sort of agreement on the very grievous issue. “Alright ,was there anything else that might need to be addressed before we conclude the court?” Toriel lightly joked doing the quote finger gesture. After deciding there was not the parents went to see where their children were. Asriel had declared a sleepover in Chara's room. Entering the room they found Sans and Frisk sharing the crib on opposite sides with their feet touching. Snapping a few pictures they went to find out where the other children where. Papyrus slouched against a wall with Chara resting under his chin, Asriel rested his head on Chara's lap. A surprising position to be sure, that left the parents scratching there chins wondering what caused the odd group sleep.


	35. Chapter 35

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this is late, I had to make a decision in regards to the rest of my life. I am going to be busy for a bit for a minute , there shouldn't be any real halt to updates. They just might be late at times.

Chara awoke to the strange feeling than something other than her bed behind her back. With a slight groan she found her brother resting upon her lap. His floppy ears warmed her hands and thus were tangled in them. Some how a familiar orange coated arms wound around her shoulder. She had remembered last night with a great deal of clarity. Although she had been alone for quite a while the previous night , in which she had cried herself to sleep it had not been long till she will interrupted. In a groggy and depressed state she heard the fragments of a conversation behind her closed door. Determined to find the source of the distorted voices. Papyrus and Asriel seemed to be deep rooted in a conversation. She had figured that her friend and brother would eventually disrupt her, but she felt as though she could have been alone for a while longer. Their conversation ceased as soon as they saw her door open. Chara regarded them with half opened groggy eyes. She whipped her eyes as Asriel lauched himself into explaining why exactly he and Papryus stood behind the closed door. 

“AH ! Chara we weren't spying on you or anything ! We just wanted to see if you were OK,” he seemed to evaluate her. Seeing his sister's dried tear stained face confirmed his suspicions. The echo flower hurt her more than she wanted to let on. Chara felt the urge to wipe her face more , but did not want Asriel to worry over her. Seeing his sister's clenched fist he embraced her tightly. If he ever found out which monster thought it was OK to voice their absurd opinions , he would go God of Hyper death on them. For now though he would do his best to comfort his older sister. 

“It is fine Asriel, I am fine. “ Chara patted him on the back , but made no real effort to escape his grasp. 

“it is fine if you are not fine Chara, we don't mind if you need to let your emotions out,” Papyrus paused thinking swiftly about his next words. He wanted to comfort his friend, not discourage her from venting her pain and other emotions. It wasn't that Papyrus could claim the most mentally healthy state, he was addicted to cigarettes for a while after his mother's death, but he wanted to do his best to be sure that Chara did not fall into the same void that he did. “it isn't healthy if you just hold it in, it is fine if you let it out.” He did not want to mess up so he stopped speaking. To his surprise he saw a few tears fall from Chara's face. The smile that seemed to make up her face at all times, began to falter and she struggled to keep it up. Asriel held her tighter , not wanting to let her go. 

Chara struggled to get away from her brother , but relented. She did not want to hurt him. No matter how much she ached , she would not be able to forgive herself is she lashed out at him. Asriel let her go , but she looked downcast for a moment. She then went in her room. Asriel and Papyrus looked lost for a second, she had left the door open and just sat on her bed. She gesture for them to follow her with a quick 'come here' gesture of her hand. They followed her in without a question or a peep. Turning on the TV she set on the new episode of Napstation's comedy sketch. Although it could rarely get a chuckle out of Papryus , it would send Chara and Asriel into utter hysterical fits. They sat on either side of her on the floor. Toriel and Asgore had been discussing getting her some kind of chair or object for sitting ,but had not yet actually got to it.

“...” Chara opened her mouth as though she was going to say something but decided not to. She shut her mouth and stared blankly at the constantly flashing TV. Asriel decided to grab her hand. Him and Papyrus might have still been formulating a plan when she opened the door, but he wouldn't let his sister be alone. It was no wonder that she fell asleep like this though she was surprised that their parents did not disturb them last night. Settling back against Papyrus she supposed that getting up could wait just a little longer.  
“OK children , we as a group discussed what would be the best method of dealing with the threat that Chara received.” Asgore explained as he plated the pancakes and eggs that he had cooked for breakfast and fed both families. It turns out it was quite late ,and not wanting to really wake the children Gaster had decided to just sleep on the couch. Once one woke Sans up from a nap there was no going back. 

“Chara, it is a tradition for the future king or queen to receive training in their younger days before they are coronated.” Toriel had decided to resume the conversation as Asgore return back into the kitchen to retrieve more plates of food. “This is prevent assassinations in the future, or attempts to overthrow the ruler. The ruler of the monsters must be strong and able to care for themselves and others without much effort.” Toriel explained as she poured some orange juice for Papyrus who drank his.  
“Since we are going to have Asriel begin his training soon, we were thinking that you could also partake in this training.” Asgore had returned to the kitchen sitting next to his wife. 

Thoughts ran threw her head, one of the more prominent ones vocalized itself. “But I am a pacifist.” This seemed to cause quit the quiet before a series of knocks sounded at their door. 

“Queen Toriel ! Queen Toriel ! Please come quick!” Toriel got up to answer the door. There before her stood a monster, more interesting though in a jar placed besides the distressed monster there sat a jar holding a green human heart.


	36. Expolsion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realized I made a bit of a typo yesterday , It was supposed to be a human heart not a monster heart that showed up last chapter. Sorry.

If the current occupants did not think that the atmosphere of the tiny home was tense enough, surely they would have thought it was by the time that the door was opened. The heart in a jar vibrating, and shone so much that it painted the surrounding gravel walkway in green. Asgore swiftly shuffled the children into another room. Although this was not a subject that he was eager to poached , it had a urgency to it. Toriel stood there shocked, she did not know what to do at first. The Vulkin stood there blubbering as lava tears flowed down its face. 

“I -..I Does My Best. But it not helping” The monster though sentient did not have the easiest time speaking the common monster tongue. Toriel remembered with a swift flashback, this poor monster believed that it could heal others with its lava. 

“...” Asgore had arrived back and had delivered a swift glare to the smaller monster. Beside the monster there laid a stained apron and a burnt pan. Although he could not tell much about the poor human that had journeyed through the underground by their lonesome, he felt pain for them . Their soul color said that they did not deserve to end this way, nor did they ever hurt anyone. This human had cared for the monsters in the underground as best as one could perhaps. This reinforced the need to have Chara train for a bit, but a thought began to bloom within his head. His children would be endangered even by the monsters who loved them if they were as dense as this Vulkin. Although he was positively steaming he would let his wife handle this. He picked up the clothes and brought them in the house. Although he did not really know what he was going to do with them , he felt that they deserved better than to be sat on the ground next to the owner's murderer. When he returned to grab the soul , he felt his soul jump into his chest at the sight at what he witness.

“It is going to be OK, I promise.” Toriel kneeled on the ground next to the Vulkin embracing it in a loose hug as to not be burned by the piping lava. Asgore was not typically known for his anger, but he would need to have a serious chat with his wife before the day was over. He did not feel it was OK to be killing anyone. What exact precedent did that set for regarding his children? If a monster murdered Chara and presented them with the soul, will she just let them go? He refused . He refused . He refused. His children would not be subjected to this treatment, they would not be simply expected to give their souls for the monster's benefit. He made his way to the kitchen where Gaster sat, still in the kitchen . Gaster shot Asgore a curious look as he poured himself a massive cup of coffee. His long time friend hated the stuff, and would only drink tea. Something was wrong. 

Toriel came in a second later holding the jar filled with a human heart. She avoided eye contact with Asgore as she hid the jar within a counter that hopefully her children wouldn't check. 

“We need to talk about this.” Asgore coolly stated. He did not want to blow up around his children. Emotional as he may be his children did not need any scars. 

“I don't really know what to do...” Toriel said in a uncertain manner. Asgore thought that they needed to come clean about this immediately and move her to the ruins for her and Frisk's safety. Would it be OK to discuss this in front of Gaster. They were comfortable around their old friend. But exposing their dirty laundry was probably a bit too much. 

“ I think that I will take Sans and Papyrus home now. This seems like quit the discussion.” Somehow Sans and Papyrus stood waiting by the front door, ready to go. Probably Gaster had messaged them when he saw Asgore retrieve a coffee. They thanked him as he left, before going back to their conversation.   
“I have changed my mind...” Asgore began , talking to his wife in a calm manner despite the dramatic protest within. 

“About what...?” Toriel asked him , she tilted her head. 

“How we should protect the children in the future. I think that instead of training maybe Chara , Frisk , and I should go live in the ruins.” Asgore responded. He didn't want to take such drastic measures , but did not want his children or anything children dying. 

“Or we could train Chara to not take any damage, she could dodge every attack and defend herself.” 

“Did you not hear what she said ? She is a pacifist. She does not want to fight anyone. And if she won't fight, than that means that a monster might kill her one day.” 

“What difference would taking them to the ruins make?” 

“It would reduce the risk of another innocent Vulkin killing another. If you allow the harm of anymore humans I don't think that we could stay together. What precedent does that set for those who try to harm our children!” Asgore questioned in a slightly sarcastic tone. He was staying calm despite the topic disturbing him to a great degree. He did not like the way that his wife responded to the scenario, not even a lecture occurred. 

“That would not accomplish anything!” Toriel shouted at her husband. She had thought they had figured this out. 

“Oh, so you would be OK if someone murdered our children?” Asgore questioned her. He took a quick breath he did not want to loose his composure, but the indifferent act to the thought of their children's murder was making him slightly crazy. 

“No of course not.” Toriel said in a matter of fact tone. 

“If Chara can't do damage than life in the ruins is a much better option. I will be able to protect other children that might fall down. “Asgore explained his point. 

“I think that maybe you just want to get away from me!” Toriel shouted with tears crowding up in her eyes. That was not what Asgore was trying to do at all. 

“No , Toriel . I jus-” he was interrupted by his wife. 

“Well fine, take the kids and go. Go to the ruins. “ Toriel went to their rooms and slammed the door. He had immediately felt regretful of the outcome. When Toriel felt like this it was always best to just leave her by herself for a bit. It was not often that they had battles like this, in fact they hadn't really been a dispute since their early days of dating . Penning a quick letter to his wife he explained that he loved her, but he truly felt that this was the best choice for their children. She was free to visit them at any time. He went to his children's room retrieving them and any things that they might need. The ruin house had essentials for Frisk delivered there weeks before she was born ,so there wasn't much that they needed to take. 

After they had left, Toriel had found the letter left on the table. With a rage-filled motion she shredded the letter. Before going back to her empty house to cry out her emotions. Being the queen was not an easy undertaking.


	37. Restless Fantasies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time skip, drama time.

It had been nine years since they had retreated into the ruins. It was a horrible day . All Chara could do was hold onto Frisk and Asriel tight as tears streamed down their faces. She regretted listening to that message, if only she had been able to control herself better. Asriel regretted finding it, if only he hadn't been so determined to explore. Asgore entered the room with a sad look upon his face . He apologized. He hadn't wish to have that argument with his beloved wife. But this seemed like the best way to go. He would pen her several letters over the course of the next couple of years until he decided that she would never respond. If she hated him for what he did to protect his children, then so be it. They wouldn't need to be a couple. His soul ached at the thought ,but he would rather have his children then his wife. It was his job as a father. 

Chara had just celebrated her twenty third birthday. Frisk was nine and a half, and she seemed to be even more determined than Chara in several aspects. It often took both Asriel and Chara to keep Frisk from danger. The amount of danger would only increase if she had consumed any sugar. The last time she had wondered too far from home a moldsmal became entangled within her hair. This resulted in not only a hairy seductive moldsmal, but also a crying freshly bowl-cut Frisk. At night it became somewhat eerie with Frisk, she would begin to play with someone that wasn't there. It was impossible to find out whom exactly she was talking, but she would pour two cups of tea , put out two books, and many other doubles of toys. Asgore had stated it was more than likely Sans , but seeing how there was a couple of ghost that called the underground their home , one couldn't be so sure. 

That was not the only major change. Many more humans came, most of them where gone within hours. One of them caught Chara's attention. He donned boxing gloves, and a bandanna with ripped abs on it. He had claimed that his boxing coach tasked him with traversing the mountain for cardio for his upcoming match. He was eager to return to the underground, he was going to make his pro debut . Many conversations took place between them . It hurt her soul to remember his name, he had pleaded with her to come with him. If Chara did not have Frisk ,and the rest of her family she may have taken him up on his request, but she could not leave them . She watched him slip out of their house after Asgore had gone to get supplies. She asked him to stay , but he smiled at her softly placing a small kiss on her forehead. He would see her soon he said. He would bring a army of humans to free her and the rest of the monsters from the underground. He never returned. It had been many years later, but she stilled ached when she thought about him. Sometimes when she thought about him when she was alone , a tear would fall down her face. She thought that she loved him. Maybe a small part of her still did. Maybe he reminded her of someone else from her past that had a affinity for orange. Emotions were pain , so Chara did not like to think about it much. The monsters now had six souls, counting the one that had started this particular ordeal. Asgore often claimed that it would be more dangerous than ever to explore the underground. Chara agreed with him, and hoped that Frisk would never have to know that danger. 

Of course one early morning the daily basis of their normal life all came shattering down. Asgore had embarked on a trip to collect more supplies. The spiders in the ruins would often give him ingredients and other need amenities in exchange for gold. They had recently moved out in a heated luxury limo. They had a small departure party for the beloved bugs , but this meant that the old king Asgore would now have to journey to Snowdin to get the supplies to cook and care for his children. Unfortunately at the time that he had tried to sneak away , Frisk was playing spies with her imaginary friend. Although he was quick he forgot to leave the door closed. Frisk curious as a kitten followed her father out the door. She was immediately greeted by the snowy forest. 

“Frisk, come out Frisky Frisky we got you treats?” Asriel had just gotten done doing his chores, and was trying to summon Frisk with a bag of fake cat treats. He frantically shook the bag trying to call his young little sister out of her hiding place. 

“I know she is playing cats again... but do you have to shake the bag ? It might give her the wrong ideas about life.” Chara asked poking her head out from behind the corner of the kitchen , she was currently drying the dishes, and putting them away. 

“She told me yesterday that we were playing spies, and that she was the evil villain's cat. So yeah ,I am not the one giving her weird ideas. “ Asriel retorted. He had no real idea why his sister loved playing pretend so much, but none could tell him not to humor her . He had been spoiling her since she was little. 

“Whenever we find the evil villain we will need to give them a talking too” Chara responded. She also played with Frisk to a huge extent. Frisk would hate it if they broke character . 

“Yeah I agre-” A large slam from the downstairs interrupted their conversation. They both ran down there thinking the same thoughts. They did not want Frisk to be killed for the greater good of monsters. Toriel had allowed the killing of that green soul person with zero repercussions to the monster. Toriel might not care if they hurt Frisk. They opened the door and rushed out into the frozen woods. Flashbacks of Chara's first time out her suddenly hit her, but she kept going determined to find Frisk. Small footsteps occurred in the snow , Asriel and Chara swiftly followed them. Leading them to a bizarre sight. A gigantic orange hooded figure stood over their little sister. Frisk stared up at him with a happy but neutral face. Chara's thoughts ricochet back and forth, at first she thought about her brave human friend. Then she thought about Papyrus. She raced forward, Asriel at her heel. With a swift motion she threw the figure to face her. Familiar skeletal features look slack jawed at her. 

“Chara....?”


	38. Remedy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reunions

For as observant as Papyrus often claimed to be, a lot sure slipped past him. He had wish that he had spent more time with Chara before Asgore took her . Despite knowing where she resided, he never had it in him to go to the ruins house directly. In fact the most that he could really bring himself to do, was to knock on the large door where Snowdin and the ruins home met. He would tell terrible puns, and knock knock jokes, but he never received the response that he wanted. He wanted to hear the giggle response. He wanted to hear her call him a : 'silly sugar skull', or a 'bone-head'. He would have been fine with anything so long as it was her. Sometimes a human would stagger out of those doors, sometimes they snuck out shutting the door quietly behind them. Other times they would shoot out like a grenade, burnt clothes and all. The most curious case was a fellow who wore all orange. He held onto a pair of boxing gloves. Most humans were weary of monsters, but this guy walked confidently like he had all the strength in the world. As he staggered down the path, Papyrus could nearly sense something about the guy. He held a buttercup in one of his hands and would look at it fondly every once in a while. Chara liked buttercups too. He remembered her smiling up at him from her small height reaching up to put one where his ear would be if he were a human. He focused magic on that tiny area, just to humor her. He seemed like a nice enough guy, so he didn't want to be the one to end him. Transporting away if any asked at all he would pretend that he hadn't ever seen the bizarre human. 

Today was different. A bleak boring day. It had been awhile, since the incident. The core whined somewhere in the distance. Although the stupid thing's presence shook him at first , he had grown used to the endless whirling the machine would make as it worked . He hated the Queen, first she had cast away Chara from him, then she killed his father (inadvertently), then she made it so that he had to work many jobs just to support himself and Sans. He remembered the stinging memory , he had caught the unfinished blueprints of what would become the core. Papyrus remembered the surge of anger that rose within him as he confronted Gaster. For the first time in Papyrus's life his father fell silent, shame apparent on his face. He had broke down, for the first time since his mother passed, and his father soon joined him. Papyrus had made him promise that he would never build the horrid machine, Gaster would be there for Sans growing up. But then somehow Toriel found out. The queen acted like she was a caring and loving ruler, but she ruled with a iron fist. Ever since Asgore left it was as if a piece of her heart succumbed to the frostbite that Snowdin would give you . She had found out about the plans somehow, perhaps Napstation found it on accident and Toriel saw it on one of his science episodes. But there would never be more than speculation, she had demanded it done within a certain time. He did not know why exactly she needed the core, but with his father gone he never intended to find out. 

“PAPYRUS...PAPYRUS... WAKE UP LAZY BONES, WE ARE GOING TO BE LATE!”  
Sans screamed at him in his battle body. Although Sans was really too young to join the royal guard , he was desperate to join them in the future. He even went as far as to sneak out one night to beg at Alphy's door to be let in to the royal guard. Papyrus admittedly was not the fondest of the idea of his little brother joining the human destroying initiative . If he were pose to hate humans , how exactly would he react to his soulmate? He knew eventually they would meet one another . 

“yeah little bro, i am coming...” since Gaster was not around , Papyrus often made a habit of sleeping in the same clothes. He only really change them for aesthetic purposes, he didn't really have the same bodily functions as humans or other monsters. 

He saw Sans by the front door. He soon joined his younger brother by the front door. Opening it his younger brother ran forward to get a head start on finding humans and calibrating his puzzles.   
“ok Sans, i am going to go on patrol , calibrate your puzzles lil bro”Papyrus patted his younger brother on the head as Sans began to run ahead of him. 

Papyrus went ahead quite a bit , intending to work his way down quickly. Something odd caught his sight. Purple and blue striped stood out oddly in the pure white of the snow. A tan little girl walked curiously in the snow, she must've been a little younger than his bro as every once in a while she would make a large leap into the deep snow. Papyrus knew her. He would never forget that color scheme. His brother's soulmate. He approached her. Although she was technically their princess , something told him that she was rather shy. He mentally cursed himself as he stepped on a large branch , snapping it in half. He retreated into the thick forest line, and the young girl though somewhat frightened continue on her path. Scooping up her own stick as if to appear more threatening. As she proceeded onto the gate bridge that Sans had constructed , he had moved to introduce himself. 

“human... don't you know how to greet a new friend?” a whoopee cushion was in his hand. He towered over them, hand with a whoopee cushion held out. She hesitantly took his hand , although she had smaller eyes than Chara had, he could tell just how scared of him that she was. The farting sound relieved some of the tension, and Frisk began to giggle. In a way it reminded him of Chara , but it was different. “i am papyrus , papyrus the skeleton.-”a soft hand grabbed around his shoulder and spun him around to face him. Furious ruby red eyes glared up at him from his chest area . He knew whom she was immediately. Asriel jogged over looking curious at what his sister may do now in the presence of her old friend. From behind them they failed to notice that Frisk had continued down to Snowdin. 

“Chara...?” he questioned despite knowing her. 

“Hi Papyrus,” Chara recognize him as well. She had thought many times about what she might say to him once she saw him again , but never really came to a solid conclusion about what she may say. “I see you have met Frisk?” she questioned. She attempted to peer behind him to catch a glimpse of the younger girl. 

“yeah i have...i should let you get her now” he quickly moved aside intending to return back to his brother. He had not been anticipating meeting her again. She would retrieve Frisk and return to the ruins , never to be seen again by him or any other monsters save those that dwell in the ruins. As he caught up to his sentry stand where he would meet Sans a odd sight greeted him. Sans was talking to Frisk.


	39. Webs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all ,   
> I apologize for the sudden time skip last chapter , it wasn't really in my original plans as I wanted to kind of keep the story shorter . The thing is I am running out of time and motivation to continue this story . I am not one to really leave things unfinished , so I am planning on ending this particular story soon. I have plans for another story for the same fandom and ships , but it will be very different from this one. On another lighter note please enjoy this chapter.

Nodding in agreeance to the comment that Papyrus had made about her retrieving her sister, Chara nodded before he departed. It had been difficult at first to really separate the categories between sibling and child, but over time Chara had labeled Frisk as her sister, and had allowed Asgore to completely parent her. If something where to ever happen to Asgore it was understood that Asriel and Chara would step up as parental figures in order to raise Frisk. Despite this Chara would dedicate most of her time to Frisk as she grew older, she had taught Frisk to read, to count ,and many other things. However , there was something unusual about Frisk. Something other than her soul . Frisk refused to speak. Although Chara could not really claim to be the most loud or vocal individual , she spoke when needed. Frisk ,although a smuggled Gaster revealed that she was not unable to speak, would often avoid speaking. Instead Frisk would gesture and point to what she currently wanted. Frisk was not really completely noiseless either, she would laugh , cry, and make occasional humming sounds. Despite what her usual neutral face may suggest as well , one could tell a lot just by looking at Frisk. A slight tilt of her head and furrowed brows would denote confusion. Hands clasped together meant she was happy . Several other body ques meant other things, although this was all just to say that despite Frisk's lack of words, she was very expressive. 

Chara ran across the bizarre bridge where Papyrus and Frisk once stood. This place was so nostalgic to her, she could almost feel the terror of her younger self as she met Papyrus for the first time. She followed a small trail, that might have been made when Frisk dragged her stick threw the snow. She wondered what must have caught Frisk's attention. Frisk was a very curious child, she would spend hours investigating the tiniest crumb in the ruins. Almost in the exact way that Chara did when she was younger. Frisk had never encountered snow before. One would have expected that she would have become obsessed with it immediately because of her curious nature. There were no major indications that would suggest that the predicted had occurred. Her small foot falls lead straight ahead. It wasn't that long until Chara and Asriel found their little sister. She stood there , a curious pose indicated by her stance. What look like a older version of Sans stood in front of her. He wore a blue scarf ,and what appeared to be metallic shiny cardboard tapped into a armor-like structure shielding his entire body. Blue dish-washing gloves concealed his carpal bones, but not the shape of his hands. He stood there beside Papyrus who had appear from somewhere behind his sentry station mere moments after their arrival. 

“ARE YOU WHAT THEY CALL A HUMAN ?” the one who appeared to be Sans asked. Unexpectedly Frisk shook her head up and down in almost an excited manner. Chara briefly pondered why she did such a thing. Although it would be inaccurate to deem Frisk as shy, she would often let questions hang for a while as she looked around. Asgore said that it was normal for a child her age , but he could not get Gaster to support his answer for some reason. 

“THAT IS WONDERFUL ! I WILL DELIVER YOU TO THE CAPITAL , AND THEN ALPHYS WILL LET ME JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD,” Chara panicked at the thought of her sister being used to open the barrier, and began to move to intercept. Papyrus although preparing to grab Sans in order for the trio to return to the ruins paused when Sans spoke again to Frisk: “WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT YOU THINK THAT WOULD BE A BAD IDEA ?” Another loaded paused filled the air. Frisk although she changed her posture several times, and even made some hand motions made no sounds. No humming, no laughing, absolutely nothing. “I SEE. HOW ABOUT YOU DO SOME PUZZLES? I HAVE MADE A LOT OF THEM, BUT I NEVER GET TO SEE IF THEY WORK?” Sans asked eagerly . Instead of the strange silence that often followed now after Sans talking, a muffled giggled was his response followed by a pair of thumbs up. Sans eagerly ran forward into the woods,and Papyrus walked up to them. He draped a twin of the scarf that Sans wore around Frisk and gave her a spare hoodie. It engulfed her . He offered another hoodie to Chara , but she refused. She had dressed rather warmly most days. Often a large jack sat tied on her waist. 

“don't worry about him, i'll keep an eye-socket out for you guys” Papyrus reassured them before following after Sans. Asriel and Chara shared a look, wondering what exact kind of puzzle Sans wanted Frisk to solve. Frisk seemed curious about Sans , and seemed to eagerly follow after him. There wasn't a lot of monsters Frisk's age, in the ruins that really showed. Sans was at most only a few months older than Frisk , so perhaps they saw each other as friends already or something. Either way all Chara and Asriel could really do is follow Frisk. 

Asgore went to Muffet's all he had really meant to do was to figure out where he could get more supplies. He had never really expected Toriel to ignore his letters. Although they never really had a troublesome relationship before their last argument , there appeared to be no real backtracking from that point. As he stepped into town he cast a long glance at the empty house where his friend use to live. He had heard about what had happened to Gaster. Although the laundry list of what he had against his wife was long and smeared with tragedy and disdain , Gaster was one of the things that hurt him the most. Papyrus knew that something was wrong with Gaster and he had tried to go to him for help, only for this to happen. Thinking about it too long was not really anything that Asgore was fond of doing too often. As he pushed open the double doors to Muffet's he did his best to rid his mind of his old friend. 

“Hello” he called out as he entered the dark and web filled tavern. Spiders scurried about as though to locate their leader to deal with the lost king. 

“Greetings dearie, what may I help you with again.” Muffet greeted him as she popped up from the once seemingly abandoned counter. 

“Ah, hello. I was wondering if by chance you might have any baking supplies, the spiders in the ruins use to have some...?” Asgore though somewhat frighten did not waste any time informing Muffet on his reason for making an appearance in her restaurant. Though Asgore did not like to dine at this particular establishment back before him and his wife were separated , he did not wish to journey too far into the underground. He did not want to leave his children alone with Frisk for too long, and he did not want a curious unknown monster entering his home. There had been a malicious temmie rumored to have been slinking around the ruins. Asgore knew that Asriel would fight for his family having completed a version of training that should allow him to assume the throne should anything happen, but Chara could not really be taught to fight. Chara would only really dodge to the best of her ability before fleeing. Despite her unwillingness to battle, she was very fast and agile. Frisk had been showing some promise, though at the moment he could only really have her swordplay with a stick. 

“Yes, my spiders told me that you were a dedicated patron and would often donate to the cause. Yes I will give supplies to you, though normally I would ask quite the fee,” she examined a web between her fingers: “I will give you a discounted price~” she said giggling at the end of her sentence. Although Asgore did not hate spiders, he did not enjoy the feeling of their spindly legs racing up his fur. Muttering a 'thank you' to the spider women he gave her a bundle of gold and strap the bagged supplies to his arms. He went back to his thoughts. Perhaps on another occasion he could ask the Skeleton brothers to come over for a cup of tea, he did not intend for Frisk to be separated from her soulmate for so long. In another world he envision the two growing up next to one another as young children. He left Snowdin. They wouldn't probably be home at the moment anyways, it was the middle of the day. His pace quickened though when he heard laughter coming from the direction of the ruins. Those giggles sounded like his children.


	40. chap. 40

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asgore reunites with Sans and Papyrus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello ,   
> sorry this is much later than I anticipated updating this. My personal life kind of got busy for a moment.

Chara was hesitant to follow the duo further into the woods. She was concerned about encountering her father, and how he might react if they encountered him among the trail. Asgore had forbidden them into exploring deeper into the underground early on in their retreat into the ruins. When the topic was brought up by Asriel , or one of the random humans who would fall down, Asgore would react in fear . He was concerned by what might lie in store for them if they manage to venture too far into the underground. When the other humans would inevitably meet their doom, he would mourn their lost for days planting more of his beloved golden flowers in the spot that humans were bound to fall down. In a way that bizarre area served as sort of a odd burial ground . None had ever passed on from the impact of the ground, but yet it served as a marker for where their life ended. Often Asriel, Frisk ,and her would visit the flower field to pay their respects to their fallen friends. In a way these trips spurred many arguments between Asriel and Asgore. Although neither Asriel or Asgore really took it further than quiet passive aggressive statements, it would tend to end in a odd standoff that was never really resolved . Asriel wanted Asgore to fix things with Toriel. Asgore would insist that if things were ever to return to normal Toriel would need to take responsibility or even respond. Asgore had been sending letters and presents, sometimes a burned gift would find its way to the door. Asgore would be heartbroken, and eventually stopped trying. Asriel would ask that he got to see their mother, and Asgore would threaten to seal the door off, or say that Toriel would keep him and make him partake in the killing of humans. Although Chara did not like to butt- in , more concern with tending to Frisk as much as possible. Frisk did not need to know of the danger that lurked behind that door. Perhaps one day she would tell her of that world . Along with the fact that she was truly her mother. For now though it seemed to be somewhat irrelevant.

Seeing the eager face of Frisk ,and Asriel's intrigued face made her shoulder on the biting cold. If she encountered Asgore on the frozen path she would join efforts with Asriel. Maybe if they all went together, nothing bad would happen. Living in fear, well it sucked. She did not want that life for Frisk. It was also easy to tell that Frisk was going to become obsessed with the strange younger skeleton. She solved many puzzles, quicker than she ever was when doing her homework. She stared with an odd fondness at the skeleton. Yellow eyes seemed to be quite visible for once.

“HUMAN , THIS IS A PUZZLE SOLVED BY THE AMAZING DOCOTR UNDYNE. THIS PUZZLE IS LIKE HER ODD CARTOONS THAT SHE LETS ME WATCH WITH HER SOMETIMES. PINK CORRALATE WITH-HEY! WAIT FOR ME TO TURN IT ON,” Frisk began to walk forward . She stopped at his command, gazing at him with an odd curiosity. He scrambled with the machine, it flicker for a few moments. Chara was concerned because although she could not actually recount Undyne doing anything worrisome , they did not actually know what this machine would do. It seemed to malfunction , creating a odd pattern of a pink path against a red sea. Frisk as she would usually do, walked across it. Instead of continuing forward to continue the sea of traps that Sans had probably prepared for the minute that he might encounter a human she turned towards him. She paused , and Chara and Asriel used this time to just cross the way that she had. Frisk stared at Sans with silent observant eyes. She seemed to be around the same height as Sans now that they were standing so close. Leaning forward ever so slightly, Frisk embraced the tiny skeleton. His face bloomed in blue, as he began to stumble over his words: “HUMAN, I DO NOT KNOW WHY YOU ARE HUGGING ME LIKE THIS. I-I-” Sans appeared to be at a utter loss of words.

“My name is Frisk.” Frisk's quiet rare voice echoed out in the snow. “Thank you for playing with me”.

Sans eyes focused on her before he began to reply: “IT'S NO PROBLEM HU- I MEAN FRISK. YOU ARE THE FIRST HUMAN WHO DID MY PUZZLES. AND THE ONLY ONE THAT REALLY HAS DONE MY PUZZLES.” He had decided to return her hug. Often monsters would find themselves ensnared within the younger monster's traps and puzzles. Although it was a tradition to have traps lying around for monsters, it was _just_ a tradition. It also did not ease the resulting irritation that Sans's would try to create needlessly complex mechanisms. Sometimes he even gained the help of Undyne of a couple of occasions. . Despite being raised by his father for a great number of years he did not really know him. Papyrus often told him stories of their parents. Sans had gleamed from the conversations that Gaster, his father, was one of the smartest monsters in the underground. He invented marvelous things like the lab, TV, phones, and even the core. The core was the invention that took his father's life.

Papyrus now had much scorn for the queen. Admittedly he was never the most trusting of her, but his new untrust of her pushed beyond his typical limits. Queen Toriel seemed like a nice monster to her subjects, but Papyrus was never one to forgive easily. He did not know if his opinion effected his younger brothers life , but he suspected that it had. Although Sans had started out school normally , seeming to get along just fine with the other young monsters , it had quickly made a change for the worse. Sometimes Papyrus would pick Sans up from the school, only to discover fresh wounds. Although monsters didn't really bleed, because of their unique physiology they had the uncanny ability to do so. Papyrus thanked the stars that Sans did not have as bad as health as he did. Perhaps if it were the case one of those hits would have dusted his brother, leaving him alone in the underground. It was not much later that Papyrus had made the decision to home-school Sans, luckily there was not much resistance in his effort to do so. Papyrus shook himself out of his frankly terrifying thoughts , choosing instead to focus on the pair of gleaming ruby red eyes that caught his from across the snowfield. He had always thought of Chara's eyes as a particularly mesmerizing pair. Although there was often negative connotations associated with red , she seemed to generate an endless supply of mercy and kindness.

“hUMAN-! I MEAN FRISK ! WHAT DO YOU THINK THAT YOU ARE DOING?” His brother's screams of shock interrupted his current observation of Chara. He had caught the start of his brother's flustered movements to get away from Frisk. She retracted her head from the side of his head with an audible 'pop'. She moved her head away from where she had just planted a kiss on the side of his face. Although she held him in a tight embrace she appeared to be slightly loosening it , golden eyes watching the youngest monster with a adoring curiosity as Sans landed on his butt in the snow. Before much more could happen , Asriel erupted in an explosion of laughter. Chara although initially worried, joined in when she saw that there was no real danger with what the young monsters where doing. Papyrus let out a few chuckles, although Frisk definitely came on a little strong, it appeared that Sans enjoyed her company. Sans true to his nature began to lecture her on why she shouldn't kiss strange monsters in the woods? Frisk smiled softly at him , before offering him a hand. He took it , not caring to stop his lecture. Heavy fast pace foot steps began to sound from further down the trail. Although Papyrus was technically suppose to dust any humans that he came across in Snowdin, he could never find it quite within himself to commit such an act. Gesturing to a veil of trees off of the path he helped the Dreamurr siblings hide. Sans seemed to even notice the change in atmosphere quickly quieting down and moving towards Papyrus to ask him what was going. A large figure moved quickly down the path, startling Sans who promptly hide behind Papyrus. The figure stopped shortly before intersected with them, unveiling themselves to be none other than Asgore.

He looked around to be sure that there where no signs of his children. Finally he settled his sights upon the brothers. “O-Oh sorry , Papyrus is that you?” He asked . Asgore was himself was a very tall monster , so it was surprising to see the familiar skeleton nearing his height. Papyrus was already tall , but he seemed to have grown much in the years.

“Asgore..?” Papyrus was fairly certain that it was Asgore, but it seemed more polite in a sense to pretend that he did not recognize the monster in front of him. Sans peaked his head out from behind Papyrus to look out shyly at Asgore.

“Oh who is this?” Asgore asked bending down to talk to Sans. Sans was never really a shy monster, so as soon as he felt the mood change he sprung out from behind his elder brother and began to introduce himself as the 'MARVELOUS SANS' to the king. Papyrus felt most of the anxiety leave him, it appeared that the Dreamurrs children hide themselves well enough behind the dense foliage of the snow encased trees. He was also grateful it was just the King, he would not feel comfortable with the queen or another random monster befriending Sans.

“so , where have you been these past few years...?” Papyrus decided to ask.

“In the ruins.” Asgore quickly answered. He did not really hesitate at all, it was sort of common knowledge that there wasn't much going on in the ruins. No monsters really lived there, so it made sense that the king would choose it as a hiding place.

Papyrus nodded. So many questions raced through his head. He wanted to ask if the disappearance of them had been intentional. Things had been going pretty well, things could have been mended. Why did he take them? Sans would have had a friend during the rough few years someone besides his brother. Out of the corner of his eye socket , something quite curious moved across his sight. Though he made no real move to make this movement noticed to the others on the main path. “How is Chara doing?” he asked. The trio of moving figures in the trees, moved back to the door which joined the ruins to the rest of the underground. He did not know what the consequences would be if they were caught, so he would aid them in their escape.

“She is doing well,” he seemed to think about something for a moment. “Frisk is also doing well , perhaps we could set up a play-date between the two.” Asgore said , gesturing his free hand towards Sans. Sans cocked his head curiously at the ram monster, he appeared to be about to ask something .

“how is Frisk doing ? Wouldn't she be around nine or so by now?” Asgore answered his question in a positive manner. He began explaining the existence of Frisk to Sans, before much else could be asked. The trio soon left his sight, and not too long afterwards a specified date was established where Sans and Frisk would play. Asgore departed soon afterwards. 


	41. 41

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A turning point in the story.

Chara mentally thanked Papyrus for distracting Asgore as they made their way back to the ruins. Although Asriel was not as tall as Papyrus or his father, it was not a difficult task to carry Frisk underneath one of his arms. Frisk as always seemed emotionless, but to the trained eye of both Chara and Asriel they could tell that she was upset. It was odd to see how interactive Frisk became with Sans in such a short amount of time. While Frisk was friendly to mostly everyone that she encounter ( with the small exception of a supposed bizarre Temmie that offered her 'friend pellets') , she remained mostly neutral. She would overly affectionate until she known another super well. With Sans within moments of meeting him was giving him hugs ,and kisses. Chara was kind of jealous, she didn't even think that she received kiss from Frisk. She kept her emotions in , more focus on making it to the large door without attracting the attention of Asgore. Once they were within eyesight of the door , the trio exited the camouflage of the snowy trees. Chara began to fumble with it. They had not locked it on the way out, so it was a mystery on why it insisted upon being a burden at this exact moment. Although she knew that Asgore would never harm his children, nor any other monster she did not want him to catch them. She could almost taste the anger, she stepped back.

“Maybe you should try,” she kept her voice low , as she grabbed Frisk from her adoptive brother. She cradled the child to her chest, and Frisk promptly fell asleep against her chest. Her small head nestled against her neck and the giant hoodie of Papyrus almost worked like a swaddle. She would have to thank him sometime. Asriel too fumbled with the door, after a short time he managed to get it open. Holding it open for his sisters to enter the large entrance of the ruins, he tripped when he attempted to shut it after him. Resulting in a large slamming sound that could without doubt be heard for miles. He began to run down the small corridor, and Chara followed them . Perhaps if they hide everything well enough, Asgore could remain oblivious .

Asgore whom was already nearing the entrance of the ruins, heard the sound and hastened his pace. He threw open the door, and followed the intruder inside. Perhaps he had left it open in his hurry to leave and return to the ruins without his most curious child knowing. Dripping spots on the stairs made his stomach plummet. _What if he was too late?_ Asgore began to take two steps at a time. He did not hear any sounds of conflicts. Perhaps he could be rid of the intruder before his children came home , or noticed. He would of course inform them at a later time, but had no desire for them to get caught in any possible crossfires. Perhaps the intruder was another small monster child, since Papyrus had Sans out and there was definitely some laughter who is to say that it was just a curious monster child. Asgore broke through into the room where the descent of the stairs joined the main floor of the quaint home. He saw something that relinquished the feelings of slight fear and made a vast disappointment bloom within his chest.

“Father !” Asriel shouted at him in surprised. He was drying himself off from the snow that soaked his fur. Chara sat on her knees frantically tugging a large orange hoodie off of a very reluctant Frisk. Who kept trying to run down the stairs.

“Did you leave the ruins...?” The question burst forth from his throat before he could stop it. He had told them that he did not want them leaving the ruins. He had told them about what might happen to them if they ventured down there.

“Not intentionally,” Chara answered him, making eye contact while resuming her efforts to extract the hoodie off of Frisk. “Frisk became curious, she saw you leave and followed you when we were doing our chores,” there was no way that she could really explained the hoodie. Asgore had to know who it belonged to : “ Papyrus caught her for us...he offered this hoodie so she wouldn't get sick.” Chara explained.

Silence permeated the air. “You should have just let her go, or have let Asriel get her.” Asgore said.

“ You know that it would take both of us to make sure that Frisk wouldn't get into real trouble though right?” Asriel decided to talk this time. Chara really hoped that he wouldn't . Though there was probably no getting out of this without another argument. “Why can't you just make up with mom?”

Asgore looked downcast for a moment. Toriel had always been somewhat of a sore spot, over time he grew bitter. He wouldn't exactly talk bad about his wife, but he was as enthusiastic to shower her in compliments like he use to. One of the humans even remarked saying that he was throwing some 'mad shade' at Toriel. Asriel did not really comprehend how one could throw a shadow, but he guess that was true. “Toriel, doesn't want to see me. I have tried. I sent her so many letters over the years. You have seen me write those letters. Because she allows the monsters to kill humans and present her with their souls, I can't know what she might allow. I cannot let her do that to my children.” Asgore spoke in a broken tone. His eyes remained downcast. “Promise me. Asriel Promise me something,” silence became thick in the small living room. “Since you are insistent upon seeing your mother, please leave Chara and Frisk here. I can protect them here. None can hurt them here.”

Eye contact was exchange between the two older siblings. Both had debated leaving the ruins. They thought that they could convince Toriel to make it stop. She had been content before with remaining the underground. “Father, as much as I would like to promise . Chara is a adult , she could make her own choices. And Frisk is a handful, she herself takes a village to raise.” Frisk huffed in response. Chara had finally manage to get the hoodie off of her. Asriel chuckling at his youngest sister's antics gently fluffed her short hair. “Why don't we all go see her together? You don't have to talk to her, but if your there no one will be able to hurt them. We could even enlist the help of Papyrus just like old times.”.

Another pregnant silence. Asgore lost his downcast glare, a surprised look overcame his features as he gazed at his son. The heir of the monsters. Without much further thought, he agreed to his son's proposition. 


	42. 42

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Preparations and thoughts

Surprisingly , or maybe unsurprisingly Asgore relented to his children's wishes. Long ago Chara had journeyed across the underground. Although many monsters were uncertain of her when she first appeared she befriended much of them . Asgore although uncertain about what might occurred in her second true voyage, was hopeful about he reuniting with old friends and swaying them to her side. He thought over troublesome thoughts as he worked on a thicker version of Frisk's coat. He thought about Toriel, and their relationship. Though he held much scorn for his wife as a result of the actions that she allowed to occurred his feelings for her was undeniable. He still loved her. Though for the sake of his children he would not rekindle his relationship with her. He also felt that it would take a while for them to work things out in order for them to return to normal ( if they could return to normal). Although they did not really have many bumps in their relationship prior to this particular explosion , he knew that she must be terribly conflicted. She was conflicted before when they had just been discussing what they would do about the threats against Chara and Frisk. If only they had been able to truly resolve that prior to the Vulkin showing up.

Asgore sighed aloud, finishing up another row of stitch-work. Frisk had requested to wear a skirt , and him being worried about her health decided to make her a long thick skirt. It would go to her knees and her legs would be covered by leggings and weather resistant boots. Frisk though fond of wearing large clothes, had never really been much of a skirt person, she like Chara had a deeply embedded wanderlust. If there was something that she probably shouldn't get into , she would get into it. Skirts would normally cause a hindrance to her reckless explorations, and would be ditch in preference of pants and shorts.

Frisk sat in her room, though she was supposed to go to bed moments ago a book lie splayed on her bedside table. It depicted a scene of a happy couple being wed, after one of them went down on one knee with a shiny ring. Although Frisk never really thought about being married to anyone, Sans had made her feel warm inside despite the cold snow that rained down on them. Frisk being only nine, did not have access to any shiny ring, but she had a candy pop, and she thought it would work.

_ The ring sits in its wrapper on the table. The thought of it resting on Sans's finger fills you with determination.  _

With a huff , she clambered back onto her bed. She wanted it to be a surprised to Sans , so she hid it under the book. Chara and Asriel would laugh about it if they figured out her intentions, but she was completely serious. She was glad that her dad said that they could meet the queen. If the argument had turned into another stalemate , she would have snuck out the big door again to see Sans. She had lots of fun playing with him. She had heard many things about the queen, she knew that she was also kind of her mom despite her not remembering her. That also in a sense made her a princess, though Frisk did not really care to claim this never being one for finicky labels. Somehow she drifted off into a deep slumber.

Chara sat with Asriel in the living room. They were deep in a conversation. They had finally broken through to Asgore. For a long time they had been contemplating going to deal with Toriel themselves, but they couldn't bare the thought of leaving Frisk and Asgore by themselves. Now that Asgore had finally agreed to come with them , it seemed that a massive weight crumbled from their shoulders.

“Are you excited to see everyone again?” Asriel asked.

“Very. Do you think that they will remember me? Papyrus seemed to be confused about something.” Chara said

“I'm sure they would, they might confuse you for Frisk at first, but I am sure that they know humans grow just like monsters. Papyrus I think was staring at you for another reason.” Asriel shrugged, and a sly smile crept onto his face.

“Why do you think that he was staring at me then?” Chara was curious, Papyrus didn't seem to want to intimidate her, but seemed desperate to make eye contact.

“My theory is that he has a crush on you,” If Chara had been drinking any form of liquid , it would have made a swift exit out of her nose. Sure she had asked him, but in a way she hadn't expected him to be so blunt about his opinion. Asriel was usually the type of monster to beat around the bush. Although he wasn't really poetic, he was usually too shy to really want to say things aloud like this. “What , you didn't see the way that he kept on trying to make eye contact with you, or offer you his hoodie. If you weren't so on guard he might have dragged you away for another deep conversation , like he did when we were children.” Asriel laughed at the memories.

“What?” Chara managed to keep her voice to a decibel where it wouldn't be audible to her father, but felt like screeching at her brother. She could feel her face burning bright red and tugged the neck of her sweater over her face to hide this.

“Oh. You didn't think that I noticed. I did .” With a mischievous laugh he got up and ran to his room, Chara swiftly chased after him. Intent on embarrassing him about another issue. The house soon grew silent. The new morning would see the Dreemurr family eating a hearty meal , before exiting the house out of the gate hidden in the basement of the home. 


	43. 43

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long, a combination of writer's block and whatever you call it when you keep hitting the wrong keys because you are typing too fast. Also I published a new Frans/ Papchara piece. It is about mages and wolf girls. It will be shorter than this one , because a new project like this may be too much stress . Anyways hope you all enjoy, the next part might take a few days because I might reference the original game but since I did that already idk yet.

The flicker of the light broke her mind awake. Although electricity was the worst in the ruins, it only a blinking light to shake her awake . A candle illuminated the heavily darkness of the room. Chara stood before the windows before throwing them open. Though this did little to introduce new light into the room, it further awakened Frisk from the strong hold of her slumber. Chara swiftly made her way over to where Frisk sat drearily on her bed. “Tsk.Tsk. Frisk you wouldn't want to be late to greet Sans would you?” Chara prodded her in a teasing manner. Although Frisk often did not make any sounds, nor vocalize her opinion much there was no missing the way that she perked up. The sleepy shroud that once engulfed her sibling destroyed. Frisk although allergic to the cold that the morning would bring, shot both of her legs over the bed . Somehow faster than Asgore could whip up his usual cup of Golden Flower tea Frisk donned the new set of clothes that Asgore had sewn specifically for this occasion. Once she was clothed in her heavily weather resistant apparel , she shot through the house eager to make another appearance behind the opposite side of the metal door that rested down stairs. Luckily for the other still sleepy occupants in the house she bumped right into Asriel.

“Omph,” Asriel let out a winded sound, as Frisk had collided right into his stomach. Frisk tried to side step him only to be recaptured by Chara. “Guess you aren't my only sister who has a crush on a skeleton.” Asriel taunted her in a low whisper. Though she had failed to punish him last night, Chara was determined to dish out her revenge.

“Come on Frisk, let the silly billy goat wake up some more, you know how much time he needs to wake up from his beauty sleep.” Chara taunted him back as she guided Frisk to the kitchen. Asgore sat there next to the giant breakfast he had prepared. Although he could never claimed to be much of a optimist after the actions of his wife, if his children actually manage to get through to her this might be the last time that they ate a meal in this home in a while.

“Greetings ” Chara greeted her father, as she assisted Frisk onto he chair. Asgore bid her good morning as well as he nurse his typical cup of Golden Flower Tea. Asriel soon made his entrance and he greeted his father with a very excited : 'howdy' which Asgore returned. Frisk was the only one who did not have some sort of greeting. Though she might usually grace them with a thumbs up or a wave , she usually choose silence. Today felt different. Frisk chew her meal , while thinking in a great silence. She seemed to be holding a candy , though perhaps she wanted to eat it after she ate breakfast. So long as she ate breakfast first , it wasn't a major deal. Soon the meal was over, and the family descended down the stairs to begin their new journey.

In Snowdin it began like a usual day for the Skeleton family. Sans woke at the crack of dawn today, in the process waking up Papyrus who indulge in a cup of coffee. Though Papyrus was never much of a coffee person, it often made him feel a connection with his lost father. Sans ate a small breakfast of temmie flake and milk, before he was dragging Papyrus out the door. He was probably eager to see Frisk again, but chances are with that large slam that echoed from the direction of the ruins, that was more of a silly wish than anything.

“PAPYRUS HURRY UP! WE MIGHT MISS THEM” Sans urged him out the door. Papyrus followed him.

“i'm sure that you won't. you might only miss them a skeleton.” Papyrus joked with his brother with his least favorite puns.

“PAPYRUS!” Sans screeched in response. Due to the quick pace of the Skeletons they were now out of Snowdin and now in the forest Sans quickly re-calibrated his puzzles and traps. Though typically slow and meticulous with the quality of puzzles, now that he had actually met a human or two , he only really wanted to play. Halfway through the various configurations hidden within the forest a blue flash tackled the younger skeleton brother. Though Papyrus always prided himself on being more aware than his younger counterpart, this caught him off guard.

“Howdy Skeletons” Asgore said as he caught up with his youngest daughter. Chara and Asriel ran over to Frisk and Sans. Knowing what he knew about the events that surrounded the disappearance of the queen's family he was surprised to see them together like this. Chara yesterday kept on insisting that they returned home, before Asgore came.

“heya,” Papyrus greeted with a small wave. He glanced over to where Frisk shook a small pile of snow off of her head before standing and helping Sans up onto his feet.

“FRISK!” Sans screamed before embracing the girl in a hug of his own. She returned it before grabbing something within his pockets before her face blooming in a deep shade of red. “DO YOU WANNA DO MORE PUZZLES, I DON'T HAVE MOST OF THEM RECALIBRATED YET, BUT THIS JR. JUMBLE IS PRETTY CHALLENGING.” Sans was sent quizzical looks by most of the others within the group , Frisk summoning a pencil out of the abyss began to complete it without much complaint or sound for that matter. While this was occurring Asgore thought it would be a ideal time to direct his request of accompaniment towards Papyrus.

“So. Papyrus , my children and I have decided to do something that should have been done a long time ago,” Asgore began what might turn into a rant if he were not so concern with keeping it precise. “ As you know, my wife was left to rule on her own. Though my reasons may not make much sense to you, I ask that you accompany us once more. I know this is asking a lot from you, so feel free to decline.”

Papyrus knew his answer. Papyrus never had many friends, but he considered the Dreamurr siblings good ones. He had known that he had liked Chara since their youth, but would feel bad forcing feelings that she was not ready for on her. He had merely just thought themselves close friends until Gaster began to laugh at him one night after he had returned. The memory of his father choking on his coffee and calling him a 'bonehead' was a fond but heart clenching one. On another hand Sans and Frisk were supposed to grow up together as friends, or so that was the impression that he had got. Although this did not seem as though it would have that much of a impact on the two now that they had met at long last, he would not be the one to sever that relationship. “it is fine, we'll go. after all i did promise to keep an eye socket on Chara a long time ago.” He exhaled his current breath , and glanced at Chara. Her curious look held a million questions, but it did not seem like the right time to really move forward with these questions.

“heya bro,” he turned to face his younger bro, only to find a shocking though somewhat expected sight considering that they were soulmates. Frisk sat on one knee, presently Sans with a freshly unwrapped candy ring. Sans blushed furiously. Though he thought at first to deny it, Frisk made him feel things that he had never felt before.

“HUMAN... I MEAN FRISK.” Sans stuttered out before correcting himself. Thoughts race through his head. Didn't Paps say that one should date before marriage? Yes , he did. He had to tell Frisk. “I APPRECIATE YOU CONSIDERING ME GOOD HUSBAND MATERIAL, BUT I WANT TO KNOW YOU A BIT MORE BEFORE WE UM,” the blue blush became more apparent , making the blue of his magic shine through his skull. “WE SHOULD .,,, UM daTE BEFORE,” he felt bad saying this to her. He didn't want to hurt her. To his surprise and relief she flashed him a small smile and a thumbs up. He felt a giddy feeling in his chest . If it wasn't rude he would turn to Papryus and ask him about these feelings.

The scene though shocking, made a lot of things make sense to the spectators. Frisk's rush and constant palming of something hidden in her pocket? _Her engagement ring to Sans of course_. Asriel stifled a chuckle that evolved into a hysterical laughing fit He had only been somewhat joking when he made his statements about his sisters being madly in love with skeletons. Chara side eyed him, before letting out a brief chuckle hidden beneath the green of her scarf. Papyrus though he could also laugh at the sheer ridiculous of the scenario, made a move to pull Sans over to a side of the trees so he could explain stuff privately to him.

“sans, we won't be going home tonight, or finishing the puzzles.” Papyrus started the prompt with his younger brother.

“WHY? I WANNA SHOW FRISK MY COOL ROOM SINCE WE ARE DATING NOW” Sans whined.

“i made a promise a long time ago. we will be going with Frisk and her family to see the queen.” Papyrus explained.

“WHY? DIDN'T YOU SAY THAT HUMANS NEEDED TO GO ALONE TO SEE THE QUEEN?” Sans asked confused. Papyrus had never let him see any of the previous humans. He never wanted Sans to be attached to someone that they couldn't protect.

“do you want Frisk to go alone?” he returned San's questions with a singular new one.

“NO” and so it was decided that the Skeletons would accompany the Dreamurrs throughout the expanse of the underground.


	44. 44

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slight break chapter, more chapters should be coming soon.

After agreeing and explaining to his younger brother the importance of his sworn task, Papyrus ventured home with his small group in order to gather any supplies that he might need, or to turn any devices off. The last thing that Papyrus needed was a burned down place of residence. It wasn't a super long errand, but it gave everyone a short break to recuperate before the bulk of their journey would occur. Sans had somehow snuck Frisk to his room in the brief time that the adults had their conversation. Frisk observed the various details of the room, a blue race car bed sat in a corner, a yellow rug with orange flame-like details ,and a computer. It was a odd themed room, but Frisk didn't want to comment on it much. She really did not want to make Sans upset. 

“ONE DAY WHEN I GO TO THE SURFACE, WE WILL DRIVE TOGETHER IN A CAR LIKE THIS!” Sans said cheerfully when he noticed her pointed gaze. He knew that he was probably too old to sleep in a bed like this, but didn't yet have the heart to upgrade to something more mature yet. Frisk didn't seem to judge him too much, quirking the corner of her lips at him in a smile as a response to his unwarranted explanations of the objects in the room. “FRISK , NOW THAT WE ARE ALONE DO YOU WANT TO HAVE A DATE?” Sans asked shyly digging the shoe covered skeletal toes into his carpeted floor. 

“yes.” Frisk responded in a whisper. It wasn't that she couldn't speak, it was just that she didn't like to speak. Sans was different. Although Frisk couldn't yet really put a finger on what made him so different to her, but she was determined to figure out all there was to know about him.

“DATING START!,” Sans declared. Frisk almost expected some change to occur, but nothing happened. “I GOT THIS BOOK FROM THE LIBARY” Sans declared waving around a paperback copy of : 'How to date for dummies' in one of his gloved hands. “IS SAYS TO ASK THE PERSON ON A DATE..., I ALREADY DID THAT. THEN IT SAYS TO WEAR CLOTHES. YOU HAVE BEEN WEARING CLOTHES THE ENTIRE TIME, HAS THIS BEEN YOUR INTENTION ALL ALONG?” The advice in the book did not make much sense, being that most monster that they knew wore clothes of some sort. It did not matter much though because Frisk responded with a frantic nodding of her head. Sans let out a gasp. Considering that she had proposed to him, it seemed that she really did want to date, but it was surprising that one could feel like this for him. “I SUPPOSE THAT I WILL CHANGE INTO MY SPECIAL CLOTHES”. 

Sans proceeded to go under a magical girl-like transformation. His battle armor was instead ditch in favor of a 'cool guy shirt' , a pair of his older brother's cargo shorts, and a cyan pair of sneakers and a matching 'cool guy' baseball cap. Although Frisk thought that the transformation itself was pretty cool, she wasn't extremely impressed with the outfit. She thought that the battle armor conveyed his personality a lot better. The 'cool guy' get-up seemed like a imitation of his brother, not that Frisk knew Papyrus that well. Chara seemed to like him a lot, and he seemed to exude a cool confidence. 

“WHAT DO YOU THINK OF MY SPECIAL CLOTHES? I ALWAYS WEAR THEM UNDER MY BATTLE ARMOR.” Sans stated proudly. Frisk put up a weak thumbs up. His face seemed to light up. Although she did not really want to lie about her thoughts, she didn't have the heart to tell him what she really thought of him at the moment. “I HAVEA SURPRISE FOR YOU, YOU SHOULD SEE IF YOU COULD FIND IT!” Sans prompted excitedly. 

Frisk although very curious about what the surprise might be, she thought this would be a good chance to get up next to her new object of interest. She circled around him slowly , and he seemed to fluster at her close inspection. She got up close to his face. Close enough for their noses to brush as she lifted the cap off of his skull-cap. Instead of the expected bony white, a yellow and red gift box sat waiting. Although initially embarrassed Sans shook it off to ask her to open the box. Frisk opened it only to be greeted with some kind of strange food. 

“DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS IS?” Sans seemed to jump up and down in excitement. 

“no” Frisk answered in another low whisper. She was somewhat disappointed in herself for not knowing the mystery food that he gifted to her. 

“THEY ARE TACOS, THEY ARE THE BEST FOOD EVER ! TRY THEM !” Sans exclaimed before holding up a taco to Frisk's mouth. Frisk was now a bit fluster. Sure she liked to flirt a lot, but now it seemed that Sans was flirting back. Frisk took a shy bite out of the presented taco. It seemed to be somewhat of a tender moment.

The door slammed opened all of a sudden : “hey bro, it is almost time for us to go. are you and Frisk ready to go?” He stopped and stared as he watched the now embarrassed children end their 'date'. Frisk managed to swallow her bite of the taco, and Sans retracted his hands. 

“ONE MINUTE BRO, JUST LET ME PUT ON MY BATTLE ARMOR.” Sans waved his phalanges , and Frisk hurried out of the room. Papyrus was happy to see that the two were getting on so well. Their brief playtime also gave him some time with Chara, they mostly talked about all the time that they missed. There was also a bit of a strange topic that came up .

“Hey Papyrus?” Chara had asked pulling his conversation from checking a faulty appliance. 

“yea?” Papyrus answered. 

“I know that this might seem kind of strange, but I wanted to ask you about something?” 

“ask away” 

“So you know how there has been a lot more humans since we went into the ruins?” Chara paused looking for any signs of a insertion of Papyrus. There was none. “Do you think that any of them could have survived alone down here?” 

“i guess theoretically one could survive, but i wouldn't be too hopeful. ”Papyrus wanted to ask her reasoning , but didn't want to be too personal with her. “any particular reason for asking?” he finally decided to spit out. 

“Yeah. I befriended this one guy. He wore a lot of orange, kind of like you I guess. He said that he needed to return home, I was just curious if he could have acutely made it?” Chara explained. 

“ I remembered that there was a human matching that description, he went to waterfall, so he might be still kicking or he might not be, it has been a while though.” Papyrus explained. 

“Thank you for letting me know.” Chara smiled sadly, and Papyrus felt a slight tug in his soul. Leaning down suddenly he wrapped her in a brief embrace. He quickly let go, and went to check on something else. Chara felt a warm feeling in her face, following Papyrus their conversation went back to much more light-hearted topics.


	45. 45

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Killer headache , rip words.

“I guess that this is it.” Asriel said after they had passed the foggy area that acted as a sort of barrier separating Snowdin from Waterfall. 

“Yeah it is. Remember the first time that we came here?” Chara said in response to her brother. She remembered being stalked, pursued., and attacked by Alphys , the monstrous lizard women whom would become her friend. Although she was eager to see her friend, and reintroduce Frisk to her, she did not want to relive that specific experience. She hoped that her friend would remember her ,and would not attempt to recreate their introduction. 

“That was kind of scary. Maybe we should try to avoid Alphys this time around.” Asriel said sheepishly rubbing the palm of his head against the back of his head. Almost as if jinxing the situation yellow war hammers illuminated the darkness. The group stiffened and stilled. It would not really be safe to try to evade the war-hammers by running. Frisk or Sans or probably both could fall behind and be injured by the magical weapons. The group began to summon their own weapons , even Frisk tightened her grip on a flimsy branch that she had happened upon at some point in the ruins. Chara made no moves to act hastily. Chara did not believe in violence, it was very important to her though that if it were Alphys and not just a monster with a similar magic that she went unharmed. 

“Alphys!” Chara called out, eager not to instill regrettable fear into Frisk. The Hammers seem to dissipate into thin air. A familiar figure jumped into the river, crossing the still quite cold water in order to approach them. When she had noticed that the group seemed tense she raised her arms in a position of slight surrender. 

“Easy , easy” she said as she approached them. When Alphys had confirmed that it was in fact Chara, she launched a tight hug. “Punk! Your back.” Chara returned the hug. She was honestly a bit more concerned about how might Alphys would take their sudden disappearance from the queen's side. She had remembered that Alphys really idolized the queen in a way. She constantly talked about challenging the queen when she was younger, only to receive defeat after defeat. Eventually the queen told her to seek out Gerson , who was the captain of the royal guard. Stepping back some from the sudden embrace she was captured in , she turned around to look at her friend's and family's reactions. Papyrus stood in a protective manner in front of Sans and Frisk , although he did not appear ready to battle he was releasing a chilling aura. Sans stood there shocked he had clearly heard many great things about the amazing Alphys. She was a childhood hero, who could and would squash any bad guy's evil plans. But her recent actions still frightened him to a slight extent. Frisk held his hand , in her other hand she held a small branch . Frisk had a mean throw, so perhaps she was intending on launching it at Alphys. Asgore had his trident out, and Asriel although also looking rather unresponsive could use fireballs and similar magic. 

“Yeah we are back.” Chara responded to her. Although she had the great urge to ask about the humans that had come before her, she did not feel like it was the right time to do so. 

“Punk , where did you go? I – um we all missed you.” Alphys although caring deeply about those that she considered to be her friends, was hesitant to make it seem as though she cared. 

“...” Chara hesitated answering that question. It wasn't that she wanted to hide this information from Alphys or any of the others, but she didn't know how many monsters actually knew about what had occurred. If they didn't know, was it really her business to air their dirty laundry out to the entire underground. 

“Me and Toriel got into a argument.” Asgore said. None had really expected Asgore to say anything. It was even thought that Asgore still held a slight grudge against Alphys since she had attempted to dust his children in the past, despite it being resolved. “We have been in the ruins.” 

“Oh,” Alphys seemed at a loss for words. She had wanted to give Asgore a piece of her mind, but did not want to really make too many assumptions about the relationship that the king and the queen had. She also did not wish to offend her friend or Asriel. All she had really known was that Toriel had seemed more sad since their disappearances. Toriel's strange lament had spawned several search parties conducted by the denizens of the underground in order to find the queen's missing family. Toriel had quickly ceased the search parties, saying that it was her fault that the family she once had was gone. 

“How is Undyne doing?” Chara interjected into the weird silence that took over the group now. She did not want any tensions to be present, but that seemed like a strangled hope now.

“I haven't actually talked to her in a long time. I just have been busy lately. Wanna go visit her with me?” 

“Sure. I need to introduce her to Frisk. I forgot I need to introduce you to Frisk too” whipping around Chara grabbed Frisk who had by now wondered over to where Chara was standing staring curiously at Alphys. “Meet Frisk .” Chara said making sudden jazz hands at her younger sister. Although typically excitable, Frisk only raised one hand in a wave. Alphys did not seemed to care much. Engulfing her in a hug ,and spinning her around. Frisk kept on a rather neutral expression , but this too went unnoticed . 

“Smaller punk!” Alphys cheered as she spun the younger human around. “It is so good to see you punk! I might need to come up with a different name for you, but I remember when you were just a baby!” Alphys rambled on. 

“maybe you could call her punkkin” Papyrus mumbled off offhandedly not really intending anyone to hear what had said. Sans screeched of course as usually, and Alphys actually paused to considered the name. 

“Y'know I am not really a fan of puns , but I think that is actually a good nick name.” Alphys placed Frisk down in favor of rubbing her scaly chin. “Anyways , Undyne would be very excited to see you again, along with ,” she paused as a grimace washed over her face, everyone besides Sans and Frisk knew that she was probably about to bring up the underground's flamboyant sweetheart “Napstation”. 

A large gasp was heard , and a starry eyed Sans now launched into conversation. “ YOU KNOW NAPSTATION ?!?!?” 

“Unfortunately”

“THAT IS SO COOL”


	46. 46

The group increased just like that. Although Alphys did eventually voice her concern over the queen's mental state, once she had learned the group's intention she begged to join them. In her words, the queen seemed the happiest when she had her family. The walk to the lab was pretty short in comparison to Chara's first expedition into the dark region. Water slosh under their feet every few seconds. Frisk and Sans had turned it into a small game where they splashed in the biggest puddles. Alphys also began to join in with this small game. Although she had a rather large distaste of the cold water, since her armor was already wet from her swim in the pool, she had no real reason to not play the childish game. The others were content enough to follow the youth from a distance, though after a while Asriel also joined in. Though Asriel like to act 'mature' around his father, he was still kind of young at heart. Leaving just Chara, Papyrus , and Asgore to follow from a small distance. 

“I've been giving what Alphys said some thoughts.” Asgore said suddenly interrupting the small quiet that being a distance gave them. He did not want to bring his wife any emotional pain, nor mental pain, or really any pain. It had been the reason he had given her so much distance. Though over time , that distance grew into a slight resentment towards his wife. Did she not read the letters I have sent? Did she not realize what I sacrificed for our children? Thoughts ran rampant in his mind. Space would be best , but he wanted no risk to his children. In the ruins, he had given Chara and Frisk a slight training. He had hope that he might inspire a fight in the girls. It seemed that Frisk was more willing to inflict damage, throwing rocks and sticks at potential assailants in her training course. Chara on the other hand would only dodge attacks , she would never move to fight back or anything. It seemed that she was truthful when she had said that she was a pacifist. 

“Really? What about it?” Chara asked. From what Chara gathered although Alphys was clearly worried for how the queen may be functioning, she thought it was a good idea that they were seeing her after all this time. 

“I know that you are pretty determined to see her,” Asgore paused to decide how to articulate his next point. 

“hey don't tell us your going to flake out on us now?” Papyrus said in reference of their small detour to see their nerdy fish friend. 

“No , I was thinking that maybe though I could just wait outside or something with Frisk while Asriel and Chara try to speak with her. Alphys didn't seem to think that she was very mentally stable.” Asgore explained. He didn't want Frisk to be caught up in the battle if their were one, but it also wasn't a good idea to just leave them outside if what he heard about human soul harvesting were true.

“tibia honest, no one has really seen the queen for awhile. she comes out for Giftmas and other holidays, but there has been some radio silence recently. though me and Sans make a effort to avoid her most of the time for personal reasons, she definitely seems like she has some sins crawling on her back.” It made sense that no one could really say how Toriel was doing if she had been keeping to herself. But Chara's adoptive mother always seemed to be emotionally stable to her, but her father's reluctance and Papyrus's personal reasons and comment on sins made her curious about how Toriel actually was. 

“I guess that if it makes you feel better about the whole situation just me and Asriel could go in to see her.” Chara said. Asriel would understand , she would just need to tell him privately. 

“tell ya what, if you want i'll go with you two tooth see her.” Papyrus looked at her with a concerned expression. Chara felt her face flush as she remembered Asriel's comment about her feelings towards the skeleton. 

“OK. Thank you for offering. Now I just got to figure out how exactly I am going to break this to him” Chara smiled up at him. He was a bit better at hiding any feelings he might have so he was able to play his usual smiling poker face. 

“HEY PAPYRUS , LOOK WHAT ME AND FRISK FOUND!” Sans had interrupted their odd moment. They looked over , only to result in a sick feeling blooming in Chara's stomach. On Frisk's feet sat a pair of blue ballerina shoes. Frisk twirled around and danced in them much to the excitement of Sans and Alphys. Asriel shared Chara's disgusted sentiment. They had known the girl that owned them. A small girl barely older than Frisk currently was. She had come to the mountain to dance with the fairies, instead she fell down the hole with the monsters. She had tried to escape from them several times. She did not listen , and would patiently wait for them to finish before saying something about the fairies and how they were waiting for her. She snuck out when the house fell silent with sleep. There had barely been evidence that she was there , because she cleaned up before she left. Now she was faced with the evidence. She had really fell down, and she had never seen the fairies that awaited her on Mount. Ebott. 

Chara stood there. She could feel her vision blur and she began to take deep breaths. Frisk looked up concerned at her. “Frisk I think it is best if you took it off” Although Asgore seem just as shook as Chara was, he began to reason with her. 

“Why ? What's wrong with them?” Alphys tilted her head in a questioning manner. 

“They do not belong to Frisk. Where did you find these shoes?” Asgore said in a surprisingly calm voice. 

“Here.” Asriel answered them. He had been discussing something with Alphys when Frisk and Sans had ran past them with the familiar pair of shoes. Frisk had already been wearing them, or else he would have stopped her. The group lumbered over , a strange depression seemed evident as Frisk unwound the shoes. Although Chara would have assisted her with the task, she could not stand to look at the shoes. She had always hoped that maybe what her father had said had just been a paranoid parental rant. He had always been protective of them , but it worsened after the arrival of the green human soul. This just confirmed her father's cruel reality. A tugging on her hand brought her out of her mind. Admittedly she had expected to find Sans or Frisk ,seeking her out for comfort, instead she had found Papyrus . He glanced over with concern evident on his face. Chara was thankful for his silent offer of comfort, and before she could really think to much more on it she silent leaned on him for support. She felt like crying , though she didn't want to cry in front of Frisk or her other companions. They held a small funeral for the girl with the blue soul, though they might not have known her that well, it was the least that they could do. 

It wasn't too long after that they got to Undyne's lab.


	47. 47

Unlike the reunion to Alphys , the reunion with Undyne went similar to the first encounter that they had with the monster women. The lab was a mess , and they heard the familiar panic of their friend. Alphys lifted up her arms and approached the otaku fish woman, with a hope of knocking her out of her panicked state. The rest stood back, they figured that Alphys might be able to reach Undyne better as they hadn't really seen Undyne in a decade or so. Papyrus quickly began to look over the lab, though discreetly . He did not want Undyne to think that he was judging her. Not much seemed to had change since his father was alive. He doubted that Alphys ever figured out how to remove the bizarre sound effects that his father had put on some of the equipment. He didn't really care to figure out whether that particular theory was correct. There were some more apparent changes in the lab, but it wasn't anything major. Empty packets of ramen on the floor, a collapsible bed in a corner , more loose paged mangas around the bed. Although Papyrus could never claim to be the tidiest monster, the place was a mess. 

“H-HH-I Chara,” Alphys had apparently conquered her fear for a moment and approached her old friend. “H-HEllo K-King Asgore” her shaky greetings continued until she had seen everyone in the room. Chara patiently waited until she engulfed the shivering shy monster in a hug. Undyne although flustered quickly returned the embrace with somehow sweaty scaly arms. 

“It's been so long since I've seen you, how have you been?” Chara said as she released Undyne from her hug. Undyne looked surprised as she stared down at Chara. Although the difference in height wasn't as large as it would be if she were one of the taller monsters, it was still shocking to find out that she was now taller than Chara. 

“I-I-I have been OK, I-I-I guess.” Undyne answered. Though it wasn't would could be considered the most accurate answer, she did not want to alarm her friends with her current dark thoughts and anxieties. 

“That is good, before anything else happens there is someone that I want to introduce you too.” This time Chara remembered to introduce Frisk first. Although there was concern when Alphys had met Frisk again, Chara did not think that Undyne would ever intentionally harm Frisk. Frisk waved with both hands up at the still nervous fish. If Undyne's ear fins were not already red, they might of flushed red out of excitement and embarrassment.

“O-O-Oh h-hello” Undyne managed to somehow stammer out. A knock came from the back door, and a new yet familiar voice entered the room. 

“Darling~ I came as soon as I got your message~” A blue man monster came waltzing in. His eyes lite up with a strange blue light as soon as he caught sight of Chara and Frisk. “Could it really be?” he voiced aloud. He became to come closer to them. A strange feeling came over Chara. It sounded like Napstation, but he looked different now. Instead of the blue box build, he instead resembled a very pretty man. He dressed in a loose cool style : wearing a open button-up , baseball cap, and sneakers. 

“Hello,” Chara greeted the strange monster. Papyrus seemed to be emitting a dark aura, while Sans was nearly vibrating in place. 

“It is ! Chara darling~! It has simply been much too long since I have last seen you darling~!” Napstation screeched out in his usual flamboyant style. 

“A-After you left, I-I-I upgraded his body. This was always the end goal, b-b-but it took a w-w-while to get the r-r-result.” Undyne explained. Napstation began to dance to music that seemed to stream out of a radio in his chest much to the visible enjoyment of Sans. Frisk stood besides Sans looking on at Napstation, she wasn't use to meeting so many new monsters in a day and wasn't quite sure what to make of him. 

“You must be Frisk~! Darling I remember when you were small. I even remember when-” Chara's eyes widened with panic. Although she had told Frisk that they were related by blood, she always skirted around the 'how'. She didn't want Frisk to know what they really were until she thought that Frisk was old enough and mature enough to handle it. This lead to an active avoidance of telling Frisk. Although Asgore and Asriel wanted to tell Frisk they figured it would be best if they let Chara do it if she wanted. 

“So Napstation, how has your stardom been ?” this seemed to have done the trick . He promptly left his prior sentence and began to ramble on about how the monsters down here needed a star, and how he planned to become a star when they had enough souls to leave the underground. Sans nodded enthusiastically as he listened to the robot's plans, but otherwise the group regained a tense atmosphere. According to the legend that Chara had remembered, the monsters needed seven human souls to break the curse that trapped them into the underground. With both Chara and Frisk , they had eight. Chara wanted to think on it further,she knew without a doubt that if it helped her family she would sacrifice her soul. If Frisk pursued a life with their family , she could happily die. 

“ A star among stars, you must be excited.” without much to really say in the stiff scenario, Chara voiced aloud one of her thoughts. 

“That sounds simply poetic darling~! Would you like to come on my show again~?” Napstation twirled around in a dramatic spin as he thought about all the wonders that awaited him above ground. He needed to have one last big bang before he made his way above ground, and the reappearance of one of his oldest and rarest friend sounded like just the thing to get the ratings up again. 

“I don't think that we actually have the time, we are on our way to see our mom” Asriel said in his sister's stead. 

“Oh . My ~,” Napstation said in response. He hadn't really thought of any further implications that having Chara in his show might have had. “Is it going to be a surprise attack or something” Napstation asked. He didn't think that any in the group were particularly aggressive in such a manner (besides maybe Alphys) , but found himself asking anyways.

“No, nothing like that,” Asriel reassured him. “We just want to talk to her.” 

“Oh , don't you think that you could of done that sooner? Not that I am really judging you or anything.” Napstation said examining his nails. 

“Perhaps I should've , but at the time I was thinking more in terms of what would be best for my children.” 

“I-I-I think that t-t-talking is a g-g-goood idea. The q-q-queen has seemed kind of sad lately.” Undyne interjected. 

“Oh, have you seen her lately?” Alphys asked. 

“T-T-the other day she came to the l-l-lab outta nowhere, I-I-I was actually working on something then, b-b-but she wanted t-t-to say s-s-sorry for p-putting me under stress lately.” Undyne told her strange encounter. 

“Oh. That is kind of odd.” Alphys said scratching her chin.

“Darlings~ I just had a AMAZING idea. How about I accompany you to see the queen as well? I don't think I will be taking 'no' as a answer” and thus the party grew more-so.


	48. 48

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Brief filler

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this chapter took kind of long, more stuff happened including my b-day. Quarantine birthdays suck.

“Hello my darlings~! I am coming from you from the side of the group that is on their way to confront the queen!” Napstation said before doing some type of weird dance in front of his constant companion, the obedient camera. 

“I don't think that 'confront' is quite the right word,” Asriel said scratching at the back of his head. He didn't want his mother to really think or get the impression that they were going to attack her. It would be best if the whole thing was kind of a surprise , but he didn't want to upset Alphys ; who was a staunch supporter of the queen since forever ago. 

“i don't think that we really gave you permission to film either.” Papyrus chimed in. He never quite got over his dislike of the robot, and was admittedly annoyed at his antics. Sans seemed to just be eating it all up. Napstation was one of the most popular things in the underground, so Sans's idolization of him was really nothing absurd. Frisk seemed to approach the man with a subtle curiosity, she knew that based off of Chara's reaction to him that she was hiding something that he definitely knew about. Something that had to do with her. Chara had always been straightforward with her. Her and Frisk were humans, not monsters ; they were just adopted by Asgore and the queen. Frisk never really had many details about her personal origins, at most Chara would just say that they were related. Although Frisk was determined to figure out their story, Chara was determined to keep it from her. Perhaps Frisk could get this small truth from Napstation, but she would need to do it in such a way in order not to rouse Chara's suspicions. 

“Its fine. Everyone knows that the queen doesn't watch television.” Napstation argues back at Papyrus. Although he didn't really care for the older Skeleton sibling either way, his brother was cute. Him and Frisk would make the cutest couple, but he would wait until they were a bit older to start making any comments on that.

The group seemed to be content with this, but it just spiked Papyrus's ire. Papyrus wasn't really an emotional monster, preferring instead to bottle emotions and let it stew. He didn't think that the journey would be particularly long. Undyne had chosen to stay behind, insisting that she would instead eliminate any problems that might spring up from the puzzles ahead. Although most would say the more the merrier, it was beginning to turn into a small army. Because of this Alphys seemed to be on the phone the entire time with Undyne. Based off of what most knew about the two girls, it was probably an enjoyed experience for both girls. It kind of made him want to talk to Chara, but it might be awkward with he just walked up to her and initiated a conversation right now. Instead he allowed his eyes to gently drift over to where she currently walked in this weird formation. While he was near the back , she was in the middle with Frisk and Sans. His brother was currently linking hands with Frisk, and although he was flushed blue he couldn't really seem to stop talking to the girl. Considering he was talking to his soulmate, Papyrus supposed that the strange behavior was justified. What was odd was how low he was actually managing to talk. When Sans whispered , one could hear it from a few miles away. Although bizarre he could definitely get use to the relative silence . 

“It is strange right?” a voice interrupted his observations. Glancing over he was somewhat surprised to find Asriel looking at him. Asriel was a few years younger than him and acted younger than that in their youth. It was kind of unnerving to see exactly how much the prince had changed in the decade of absence. Asriel stood nearly at his height, maybe at most a few centimeters smaller. Green eyes from who knows where (as Asgore and Toriel had drastically different eye colors) stared at him in a slightly playful manner. Although Asriel and him did not interact much , it seemed that a more mischievous disposition fit him well. 

“yeah. usually he is not this quiet.” Papyrus explained . 

“I get it. It is kind of the opposite with us,” Asriel said he chuckled and shook his head making the light fur that acted as hair sway slightly. As his fur shook it uncovered large pointed horns. While it was known to all monsters that could see that the prince had horns, it did not really help that his fur was the same color of his horns. “ Frisk is making more noise that she had ever done before. She even seems to talk.” Asriel began to go on to him. It was Papyrus's turn to nod and agree, Frisk did come off extremely standoffish when he had first met her. Most humans that he had encountered were extremely talkative and kind of nervous , he would usually make sure that they quickly left Snowdin so that Sans wouldn't meet them. Frisk in contrast had just looked up at him with a neutral expression, glancing over once more she now wore a slight smirk as she chatted softly with Sans. Although it was a lot less prominent than the blush that Chara would often have , there was a soft cherry tint to her face. 

“Speaking of blushing sisters, what is going on with you and Chara?” Papyrus though attracted to Chara did not want to enter territory like this with her brother , or any of her family for that matter. 

“what?” Papyrus immediately responded. He usually prided himself on being able to easily avoid awkward conversations, but this was a bit too blunt for his taste. 

“You like Chara don't you ?” Asriel prodded a bit more than he probably should've ; but he felt that Chara and Papyrus really had potential to be something, and it was fun to embarrass his sister. 

“yea sure kid, you could say that I lava them a skeleton.” Papyrus punned at him in a low tone. If he admitted his feelings to her anytime soon, he hoped that it would be to her directly and not through her brother. 

“PAPYRUS!!!” Sans screamed out of nowhere, disrupting the conversations that the entire party were currently having. Alphys though startled at the interruption of her phone call, quickly returned to her phone call with Undyne. Chara seemed satisfied to end the currently conversation she was having with Napstation and Asgore. She wandered to the back where her brother and friend were having a punny back and forth apparently much to the displeasure of the now seething Sans. Frisk began to administer emergency head pats to Sans, who eagerly drank the affection in . 

“What's up ?” Chara asked , genuinely curious about the origin of the frustration of the smaller skeleton. 

“Nothing much sis. We were just discussing Bone Boy's undying love for you,” he elbow Papyrus lightly in the ribs as he said this “Oh I think father wants to talk to me, seeya.” and like that he promptly left the conversation. 

“I wonder what that is about?” Chara spoke tilting her head slightly as she saw her brother starting a conversation with the eccentric robot.


	49. 49

Throughout Hotland there were a few encounters, Tsundereplane and Vulkin appeared frequently only to be quickly warded off by steely glares sent by Asgore and Papyrus. Although it would have been quicker to pass by NTT resort , Napstation insisted that they take a pit stop there. 

“I insist, I want you to witness the absolute glory that NTT obtain after they finally themed the resort after me.” Napstation posed dramatically, hand draped over his head as he looked up at the nearby resort. 

“I suppose that we could take a minuscule break.” Asgore said shrugging ,as he looked at his children to decide whether or not to actually enter the resort. Chara and Asriel in turn looked at Frisk, who had already begun to drag Sans to the building in order to explore it. Although it wasn't much on a drag on Frisk, as Sans sprinted alongside her stars in his eyes. The group with a audible sigh followed after the youngest members. At the last second though instead of actually running inside the building like expected , they ran around side it. 

“I got this from the garbage” 

“but like it is some really good garbage” obnoxious laughter was heard as Chara and Papyrus began to run over to where Frisk and Sans disappeared to. 

“OMG Napstation, he is like my robot husband.”

“Actually he's like my robot husband”

“I think that we are both already married to him, but like he just doesn't know it yet.” The scene in front of them was somewhat weird, submerge in a shop entirely composed of garbage. Frisk pointed at things and two burly monsters in Napstation themed armor answered them eagerly in a bizarre manner of talking. Sans stood by donning a new cowboy hat, instantly Chara recognized who it belong to. A young boy who had moved onto a ranch nearby the opening of Mount Ebott. When his sister's dog ran away, he chased it into the cave and fell down the hole because it was the 'right' thing to do. Although Chara had last seen him years ago , the hat seemed like it was unaffected by the years. Chara strongly doubted that the young boy would've left the hat, unless he had gifted to someone. Based off the Napstation themed clothes, Chara doubted that he would gift it to the monsters who had apparently given it to Frisk and Sans. 

“OMG it's like Napstation” 

“Could you like autograph my butt?”   
“Mine too please” 

“Darlings as much as I would love to do that, there are young monsters here, maybe later ~” with a almost flirtatious audible wink the group departed from the store. “How would you all like a exclusive meal at NTT resort? We recently added a Napstation themed restaurant. All free just for you my darling friends~“ Napstation asked, eager to remove the topic of the burly monsters on the side of the resort from his friend's mind. 

Frisk nodded, and Sans looked excited at the opportunity. Although Papyrus usually would've rejected the expensive food, it would be a good way to keep Sans occupied for a bit. The Dreamurrs were admittedly a bit hungry , and quickly agreed with the suggestion. Napstation whisked them into the restaurant and order them the special aka the 'Steak in the Shape of Napstation's face'. He placed them into seating arrangements, Chara and Papyrus sat together, Frisk and Sans, Asgore, Asriel and himself with Alphys. The steak was served briefly after, with San's and Frisk's cut into tiny pieces in order to accommodate their youth. 

“so , is that hat a human hat or something?” Papyrus asked Chara regarding the hat that Sans still wore. He knew what it was of course , but wanted to see what Chara's reaction towards the hat meant.

“Yeah, one of the humans a long time ago came wearing it and wielding a gun. Said he had to find his sister's dog and left shortly after a brief stay at our house.” Chara answered him. 

“want me to take it away from him?” Papyrus didn't want the hat to cause Chara any pain. 

“No it is fine. I'm sure he wouldn't have minded that much about the hat.” Chara remembered the boy with a fondness, he wasn't that much older than Sans when Frisk had knew him. He had a strong sense of right and wrong, and would easily depart with some of his items in order to satisfy the monsters around. A real generous one he was. 

“if you say so, nose problem of mine you could say” Papyrus said slumping into the chair. 

“It is nice to see that you haven't changed that much, even after all the time that we spent apart.” Chara said in response to his remark. 

“who's to say i haven't change?” Papyrus grinned at her. He thought about pouring some of the honey that he was keeping hidden in his hoodie on the sparkling steak, but that might gross out Chara. 

“I mean you might've , you don't seem to be as big of a bonehead,” Chara teased him. She nonchalantly grabbed hold of his hand examining the phalange bones of his hands and comparing it with her own smaller human fingers , Papyrus flushed gently but he did not remove his hand from her smaller grip. “Your hand seems to have gotten even bigger.” She remarked softly looking up at him with those gentle ruby eyes. 

“you remember my hand size?” Papyrus asked, curious to how she would remember such trivial information. 

“W-Well we held hands a lot as kids. I used to get lost often. I remember one time when you got so tired of chasing me around that you picked me up and carried me home. I was kind of taken aback at the time, because you were just a bag of bones. You're still a bag of bones.” Chara suddenly felt kind of embarrassed and began explaining her bizarre memory of Papyrus's phalange size. 

“relax kiddo, i don't mind. it's nice to have someone remember strange details like that” Papyrus winked at her. Chara felt her face heat up. 

“I'm not even a kid anymore.” Chara complained in response to Papyrus's last statement.

“so you say.” Papyrus would not let up on teasing her. 

“I'm not!” Chara nearly yelled. She remembered that she was in a restaurant , and let out an exaggerated sigh. 

“and now you're pouting” Chara decided that she would ignore him for the rest of the time that she spent in the resort.


	50. 51

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stuff

It wasn't long before the group departed from the restaurant that sat inside NTT resort. Chara continued to give Papyrus the silence treatment, determined to ignore him until he apologized for teasing her so much. Asriel though sat across to her kept Asgore's attention on him for the duration of the meal. For now he was content to be the only one to really bug his sister and her bone friend about their future relationship, though he may need to keep an eye on Napstation. Though he could recall Napstation often commenting on the closeness of the two in their youth, he wouldn't want the robot to become romantically entwined with either of them . His sister deserved good things, and he knew that despite the skeleton's laziness and bad habits, that he made his sister happy. He made her open up in ways that she wouldn't for her younger brother. He mostly asked about the conversation that Napstation and his older family members had. It turns out that Chara had asked him to keep the origin of Frisk a secret. He could understand it, as she had explained that she wanted to make sure that Frisk knew that she was loved. Chara had a rough childhood before she was adopted, and she didn't want Frisk to have any of the struggles that she did. 

“You've been unusually quiet.” The robot started a conversation with him. He was a lot younger than his sister's friends, and it seemed to cause somewhat of a disconnect with who he was then and whom he was now. 

“Or maybe I am just normally quiet , and your just stuck on how I was when I was younger.” Asriel said. 

“I suppose that is it,” The robot hummed a melodic tune. The robot himself had changed a lot. From a odd energetic robotic box, to a human-style robot. One could even see the anime aesthetic that Undyne tried to employ on his new form. 

“To be honest, you seem quite different as well, not that I really knew too much about you back then” Asriel said ceasing the brief silence that had befallen the odd pairing. 

“Really how so?” Napstation had a army of loyal fans like the two that seemed to be glued to the side of NTT resort. Although most would claim to know him better than he knew himself, there wasn't many who claimed not to know little about him. It would be interesting to hear the prince's perspective on him. 

“For starters , you seem a lot more subtle about your urging for certain people to be together.” Asriel said in regard to the somewhat discreet way that Napstation had seated them. He had insisted that they had run out of room at the main table where the majority of them sat, and that Sans and Frisk needed their meat slice in a way appropriate for younger children. Papyrus and Chara would feel better if they were close to them in order to keep a close eye on them. A very clever way to push them together indeed. 

“If you say so, they seemed really eager for the opportunity , it was more so just a nudge in the right direction” The conversation dissipated ,as they boarded the cramp elevator that would take them directly to New Home. 

“THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THAT I EVER BEEN ON A ELEVATOR!” Sans exclaimed.   
“Its the first time I been on a elevator before too” A lower voice agreed with him. It appeared that befriending one another really worked wonders for the two. 

“DON'T WORRY MY BIG BROTHER SAYS THAT THEY ONLY MAKE YOU FEEL A LIL' FUNNY.” Sans said trying to comfort Frisk. Frisk shook her head in a nod and seemed to hold onto San's arm for support. Sans though wanting to seem cool, like the cool dude that he totally was erupted into a blue shade. The adults let them have their moment, who knew how things would go after they exited the elevator into New Home. 

The road seemed as bleak as always. Chara instantly remembered walking home all those times. Often accompanied by either Papyrus or Asriel, or both. She remembered her friends and her spending time together in the city where the throne sat. And for the first time that she embarked on this journey she began to feel the nipping of hesitance. Should she go through with this, should she? She glance at Asriel , although he shared in her hesitance and uncertainty, he needed to see her. They needed to reunite with Toriel. Perhaps everything would go bad, but could they live out the rest of their days without trying. Within her Chara felt the sparking of something dull and dormant within her. 

You feel determination. 

She needed to see this through no matter the cost , no matter the price she would be forced to pay. As they continued on the street, she looked at Frisk who remained in a closeness with Sans. She felt that this would be the last time that she would be seeing her in a bit. It in no way felt permanent , or like a 'good-bye', but more like a 'see-ya later' .

Asgore though itching to see his wife, knew that his children came first. His children would always come first to him. Besides she might still be angry at him for abandoning her, it was better this way.   
Papyrus felt no real desire to see the queen, but he would dust her if her blood lust extended to her own daughters. Sure he might not have been in a relationship with Chara or anything, but he loved her in his own way.

Alphys though indefinitely on the side of the queen, did not want to see her beloved friends get hurt. She would provide a distraction if need be , or hopefully just vouch for her friends. Alphys really didn't see it coming to that, Toriel had desperately missed her husband and children. She often looked at the nursery in sadness, but she was also supposed to help the monsters escape their bondage. She was truly stuck between a rock and a hard place. 

Napstation wanted everything to be documented, even if he were not live at the moment, it was his duty as the star of the underground to be the bearer of truth, even if the truth hurt. 

Undyne sat huddled behind the screen, nerves danced within her. She thought that Alphys was strong, and wouldn't be hurt, but she worried for her friends. If she wasn't such a coward she would be there with them. No she was tired of being a coward. She would be there this time. Donning a heat resistant coat, styled after a anime character of course she made her way out of the lab. Even if she couldn't bare to show her face much, she wouldn't let anything happen again , if she could help it that is. 

A unknown presence had been observing the group for a while now. Even before in the ruins he had been watching. A victim of a experiment gone wrong after he was dusted, the only emotion that he could feel now was a dull numbness. He did not often hurt other monsters, but there was something in their contorted pained faces that made him feel ecstatic. He couldn't feel much , but he could make them feel so many things. With the gathering of the souls, he would be able to inflict emotions on the world at large.


	51. Time To Go

Standing before the house, one could feel the shivering thoughts of dread that began to crawl over the group now that they had reached their predetermined destination. Despite the dread, they could not turn around. After rekindling and starting new relations ,they could not just abandon them. Asgore embraced both of his children. He knew that it would not be the last time that he would be seeing them, but sheltering them this time would just make things worse. Taking both Sans and Frisk by the hand, he began to lead them to where he thought the aquarium sat. It would be a good distraction for the younger more vulnerable children. Chara and her small entourage approached the small house. Chara let Asriel be the one to actually open the door, he had a stronger bond with Toriel. If she was really as bad as they say , she might perhaps hold memory of her son. 

“Hello,” Asriel called out. The house was deserted. They were not really sure what to expect, but it wasn't this quiet lack of a meeting. Nothing seemed out of place, everything appeared although it had remained in the same spot throughout the years. Chara went to glance up at a familiar drawing. She could not help the smirk that crawled onto her face at the sight of the old piece. 

Asriel and Alphys instead went to check out the kitchen to see if they could find any trace of where she might be. Papyrus lingered with her. He wondered up by her side, to appreciate Asriel and her's masterpiece that remained on the wall. “You don't have to do this y'know?” he questioned her and rested a hand on her shoulder. He was trying to comfort her, she knew that she had to do this though. It would be wrong to dangle this in front of Asriel only to chicken out at the last moment. It would definitely make her qualify to wear the 'punk' label that Alphys long ago given her. 

“You know I have to” she answered him in a lower voice. Asriel didn't really need to hear this. 

“Kiddo , or Chara heh” he messed up again. “Asriel would understand. A lot of people would miss you if something were to happen,” he did not really know how to articulate this . He wasn't really ready to confess his feelings, but the thought of losing her really stung. 

“I would miss everyone too. Although I did not know everyone too well, you were all nicer to me than anyone on the surface.” Chara sighed leaning into the taller monster. Papyrus cringed, how do you really tell the girl that you have liked for a long time that you liked her without a massive outburst? He didn't want to make a scene. Maybe he should've told her earlier. As he scrambled through countless endless thoughts, Chara chuckled. “I think that you wanted to say something else though?” she was implying something. She was probably just flirting with him. Although most would say that Frisk was the flirty one, the apple didn't fall too far from the tree. 

“i have bone idea what your talking about” Papyrus could do this. He just had to deny. He didn't to straddle Chara with the responsibility of his feelings. 

“Yes you do. You just don't wanna admit it.” Chara smirked up at him from her hug. The upward tilt of her lips which were once just forlorn and resigned had morphed into something more devious. He felt his face flush. He began to retreat from her slight hold, when it suddenly contracted forcing him into her embrace. She had to make this quick, Papyrus might reject her, but she also might die. This way something that she could risk. Projecting herself onto the ball of her feet , she reached up as far as she could before planting a small smooch on Papyrus's chin. It was a bit embarrassing that she could not reach up higher, but it should've conveyed what she wanted to say well. Papyrus felt himself stiffen. Though he was antagonizing internally before whether or not he should have confessed his more than friendly feelings , he never expected her to make the first move. Before he could think anymore on it, he shifted his head so that their mouths would actually meet. The kiss was short and chaste. It only lasted for a few minuscule moments, but it left both parties a flustered mess. Papyrus was reduced down to a jack-o-latern like glow, and Chara returned to her sly smile with her blush deepening as well. Perhaps this was too sudden. She thought that they flirted a lot, but maybe she took the plunge a little too soon. There was no time to really regret now. 

“You finally did it !” A voice interrupted them out of their silent moment. The jumped back from each other, as though they might be able to savage the idea of them being 'just friends'. Napstation along with her brother and Alphys stood there. Asriel was the one who had spoke , but Napstation stood there wide grin on his face as he wily shook the camera ever so slightly. 

“Are you,” Chara tried to calm herself before asking the question that now took the entirety of her mind. 

“Recording, why yes I am.” Napstation did not let up his own smile. “Imagine how shock the underground will be when they find out that both of the princesses like skeletons. Darling there will be so many crushed suitors I am-” Napsation was ranting until he was interrupted.

“There is more important things to attend to. As much as I enjoy teasing the punk, this is something that is private.” Chara and Papyrus were glad that Alphys decided to step in on behalf of them. Even if it were admittedly a bit weird, maybe she was just anxious to see the queen.

“This is just as private as your and Undyne's relationship” Napstation murmured with a roll of his eyes. Alphys and Undyne were engaged in a phone call that lasted from the wall to New Home. If they were in a relationship it really wouldn't be a surprise to anyone. 

“What was that ?” Alphys asked with a near roar. Undyne was still rather shy about being with someone so different. Alphys worked hard to get Undyne to open up to her, and she knew that any teasing would set her back a large amount. 

“I agree that this is something that does need to go on the back burner for a bit. I found a note, apparently somehow mom caught wind of a new human in the underground. She is waiting downstairs.” Asriel finally butted in. waving a note. As much as he rooted for Papyrus and Chara , this was not the reason that they came all this way. With a sudden clarity Chara began to remember the strange room at the bottom of the house. It was rather bare when she had last seen it, and she had never had much of a interest about said room, but she remembered it. Alongside with being rather boring, it also housed the barrier. The barrier if broken would allow all of Monsterkind to go free. She was contempt with living the rest of her life down here, with Papyrus ,Sans , and Frisk. But the thought of all of her loved ones standing in the sun was a tempting one. There was only really one way to go, and Determination fueled her.


	52. 52

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Killer headache is once again my excuse for this not being out when I wanted it to be . I am starting the next chapter immediately after I post this one ,so hopefully that one acutally makes it out on time.

With their moment concluded, they followed Asriel to the flight of stairs. 

“Are you ready?” he asked, though he knew that the question would without doubt go unanswered. The air felt tense, and it was like the barrier itself had taken a presence in the room. It was like a static that buzzed in the space between them all. Chara nodded her head silently, the reserved nature that came with this particular quest once again returned to her. Although she was determined to see her mother once more, there was always the chance that she had changed greatly. 

“Let's do this!” Despite the silence in the room prior, Alphys erupted into a battle cry. She felt uneasy in that kind of environment. Straight silence always meant that something was amiss. She did not want to fathom the thought of the queen acting out in violence against her own child. But if she did she could talk her of it. The queen was a pacifist, at least when she had been better acquainted she was. She was just making a sacrifice for her people, those humans weren't like Chara or Frisk. They could turn evil or angry, but not Chara. If the queen attacked Chara, then that means … Well she didn't want to think about it for her own peace of mind. 

“The underground is ready, look at all those ratings.” Napstation spoke breaking the uneasiness along with Alphys. 

“your recording?” Papyrus spoke . His face dimmed down greatly , as he redirected his magic back for later use. Magic was like blood, all monsters had it, but it was easier to control than human blood. 

“Yes the underground deserves to know the truth. Perhaps I will create a documentary starring none other than me. Star of the Underground . 'Napstation'” Began to rave with a visible fondness as he discussed his plans for the near future. 

“That sounds like a great idea , but once more we will need to put it off once more.” Asriel said. Asriel began to descend down the stairwell. Chara followed him which prompted the rest of the group to move on with them. The walk was silent, although Chara remembered the room which housed the barrier she did not remember the long hallway. Then again she never really liked the feeling that this particular section of the house gave her. They continued on down the long hallway that matched the ruins even to the point where it had the same outlook at New Home, although much bleaker. Eventually they came to a open door, it seemed to be where they needed to go. Something else beckoned Chara, wordlessly she wondered down the hall. Until she found what was calling her to it. Coffins. 

“Chara you shouldn't just wonder off like that. What if she was in here?” Asriel chastised her until he saw what he was looking at. 

“Yeah punk , what if....” Alphys was a bit behind him but she quickly stopped talking when she came into the room. 

“Oh my “ Napstation said lacking his usual tone of drama. They each had a coffin with a heart painted on, representing the soul of each of the humans. Though Chara was relieved to see that there didn't appear to be any for her or Frisk, her heart dropped when she saw the orange coffin. Though most of it remained bare and wooden , it had a coat of dried orange paint and a descriptor labeled 'Bravery'. She had her answer to that question she had asked Papyrus so long ago. She felt her eyes swell with tears, but she was determined to not shed any pain. She would bottle it up until later. Until she could be alone with herself. 

“we should get going. lingering around here for too long would be....” he scrambled for a pun. He was at a loss of words for how Chara was reacting to this, and didn't want to push any buttons he shouldn't. 

“Yeah , we should get going Chara.” Asriel said. He figured that there might be some drama if Chara's current boyfriend said something about Chara's dead almost boyfriend. Chara took a few deep breaths. She could be angry later, for now she needed to be strong for her friends and family. 

They walked back to the entrance , and feeling ready to conclude the distance between the queen and themselves they entered. 

“Howdy,” they walked in to a unexpectedly pleasant sight. Toriel had her back turned towards them , she tended to a plethora of flowers. Although there were buttercups, and other common surface flowers the majority of the flowers that she nursed appeared to be echo flowers. “Just let me finish watering this , and then I will be right with you.” She began to hum a pleasant song. 

Asriel could barely force himself to say anything he began to whisper: “M-M-Mom?” 

Toriel spun around and jumped back a few feet. She seemed very surprised at the sudden appearance of her children whom she had not seen in years. “My children ?” She reached out and took Asriel's muzzle in her own furry hands. She gazed at him and began to weep embracing him further. Chara had so many questions, but she felt that it was more important that Asriel reconnect with Toriel before she started interacting with her. “Would you like some butterscotch cinnamon pie?” She might've hesitated if it had been anyone other than her children. But even at her worst she would never be able to do that to them. 

“Sure mom.” Asriel agreed. The barrier made him feel uneasy. He also wanted to create distance between Chara and the barrier. Toriel pull away from Asriel and made eye contact with Chara, she must've not noticed her prior as Chara was immediately given the same treatment as Asriel. All seemed calmer and less worrisome. The moment did not last long , as the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps appear to be coming closer and closer to the door. It sounded like there were more than one entity running, and their suspicions were confirmed when Frisk and Sans popped around the corner of the door. 

“My children it is not safe for you to be here at this moment. Please come back !” Asgore's voice echoed down the hall to catch up with them. Toriel seemed confused at all the commotion. At first she had knelt down in order to introduce herself to the young children , but when she heard the familiar voice yelling she was quickly knocked out of her current train of thoughts. 

“Gori ?” Toriel questioned aloud. The one scenario that they hoped to postpone for a little while longer had just run up on them.


	53. 53

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final battle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 5 pages

“Gori?” Toriel asked her head lifted slightly. Instead of the rage that was nearly predicted by everyone in the room , there was a totally different emotion present on the queen's face. Hope shine through as there was a large smile that bloomed on the queen's face. 

“Don't 'Gori' me” The king said as he caught up to everyone. Once he saw that there was no harm coming to his children his shoulders slumped as some tension and anxiety left his body. Although Toriel's happiness at seeing her husband was somewhat stifled , it did not seem to put her off much. 

“CHARA . WE DON'T WANT YOU TO FIGHT QUEEN TORIEL. FRISK DOESN'T WANT YOU OR ANYONE TO BE HURT! ALSO YOU MAKE PAPPY REALLY HAPPY, AND HE WILL GET SAD IF YOU GET HURT!” Sans said as he held hands with Frisk. Luckily this did not seem evoke any sour emotions in the room , only a bit of confusion. 

“y-y-eah don't fight. W-W-We can resolve this in a d-d-different way” Undyne ran in with a redder face than normal. She must've came through Hotland. 

“We weren't going to fight.” Asriel mumbled surprised that there was this much confusion about the reunion with Toriel. 

Alphys shot a glare at Napstation as she approached Undyne to soothe the panicked fish monster : “This is why we told you not to use the word : 'Confrontation' it is too confusing”. 

“But darling ,” Napstation nearly whined. “I told you I was going to make this into a documentary starring myself. 'Confrontation' just added more spice to everything. “ 

“SOMETIMES WHEN YOU PUT TOO MUCH SPICE INTO SOMETHING IT TURNS OUT BAD. LIKE WHEN PAPS PUTS HONEY ONTO TACOS. “ Sans added. Although it truly had no relevance to the conversation it was still somewhat humerus. Frisk eagerly nodded her head agreeing to San's bizarre statement. 

“hey honey on tacos is perfectly valid.” Papyrus said . This seemed to make Sans vibrate with anger. 

“NO PAPS ITS DISGUSTING.” he complained. 

“I guess you could say he has a sugar tooth” Chara through in a joke. 

“ nah i'm just a sugar skull” Papyrus stretched his arms around Chara's shoulder oblivious to the zooming motion made by Napstation's camera. Toriel attempted to get closer to Asgore , only for him to further distance himself. 

“Awww , how special...” a voice rang out. There was none that the voice could be attributed to.   
“I guess you could say that this is a sweet reunion.” Within a instant multi-color ink stained vines ensnared most of the group leaving Chara and Frisk to stand on their own. “But now it is tem to end this.” Somehow a temmie stood there with the six other souls of the humans in the coffins. How they managed to achieve this was unknown at the time. The souls morphed their form transforming them into a nearly indescribable monster. Although their normal face remained close to the one that they had once had, it seemed ten times the size and split down the middle. Octopus tentacles seemed to be sprawled over various mechanical parts, and a large screen behind the grotesque harry skull showcased her original facial expression. 

“Frisk run!” Chara nudge Frisk out the door hoping for that Frisk would be able to make it out safely . 

“Tem doesn't think so.” Before Chara could even turn back around to face the monster, they held Frisk upside down from one of the tentacles. Frisk began to scratch and whack at the Tem with a stick. “ Tem thinks that they'll take your soul first. Then hers. She'll watch me break you”. Temmie's statements horrified Chara. She was a pacifist , she could resolve this without violence. She would never need to take another life again. The onslaught did not wait much longer after that. Although Chara liked to think that she had become good at dodging stuff , this was too much. Something shifted the light blue heart appeared in the screen behind the disfigured Temmie's face. Knifes began to rain down, and although Chara had difficulty with avoiding them they seemed to have more of a noticeable rhythm. Chara felt an urge and she followed it calling out for help. At first nothing seemed to hear her , until a sudden shift in the air. The attacks shifted to a green color turning into bandages and instead of causing harm to Chara they instead began to heal her. 

Once Chara had regained her strength, the erratic attacks continued. Now that she had experienced the attacks prior she was a little better at avoiding them. Then it was the orange soul that took over the screen, once more Chara called out for help and in turn received healing. The machine shook as it continued its attack. The screen once again shifted showcasing the darker blue heart. Instead something different happened , rather than the usual pattern the Temmie monstrosity seemed to dissolve into something smaller. Smaller and more familiar. Gaster stood there , a dark ink like substance leaked out from his once vibrant eyes. 

“Chara do you recognize me ?” he questioned. He grinned and it was full of malice. 

“Yes...” Chara forced herself to answer. She looked up towards to the ceiling where her friends and family sat paralyzed and daze before redirecting her attention back to Gaster. 

“Good.” He purred. The attacks resumed, and Chara went back to dodging to the best of her ability. The fight felt different, less hopeless. The sight of her those that she cared about relatively unhurt filled her with more determination than she had in a while . “You might have determination, but it will be your downfall” Gaster blasters were summoned, shooting rainbow beams down on her. Chara continued to dodge it. Reaching down into her pocket Chara shoved a random food item into her mouth.   
The fight dragged on , until Chara realized something. Gaster had all the power at the moment. But that did not mean that Chara couldn't save her friends. Chara began to call out to her friends, trapped with Gaster's grasp. The silhouette of her parents appeared in front of her. She began to talk to them and interact with them, but they attacked her. Although this was worrisome, Chara knew that this wasn't really them in charge. She was determined to save everyone. She somehow got through to them. They embraced her in a hug, Chara enjoyed the sentiment of it, but she was determined to save everyone. Sh returned to the battle. After dodging some more attacks , she called out to Papyrus. Her bonefriend and his younger brother appeared. Though she was able to strongly appeal to Papyrus, as they had spent lots of time together, she did not really know Sans. She made puns, and hugged Papyrus a lot. This seemed to result in screeching from Sans. More attacks from the skeletons occurred, and due to her close proximity with Papyrus , she knew the dynamic of their magic. After a few moments, she was able to break Papyrus free. She only really knew that Sans really liked Frisk, so perhaps engaging with him in a conversation about her would be the most effective option. No matter if it were she eventually broke down his shell as well. 

Lastly it was her bizarre trio of friends. Chara lightly wailed on Alphys, and brought in references from Undyne's favorite animes. She talk to Napstation about his future documentary and how he was the brightest star that the underground had ever seen. The only one left within Gaster's hold was Frisk. Frisk began to struggle harder, and wack at the tentacle thing holding her in place. With one last determined move , she threw her beloved stick at the tentacle and miraculously it released her. Frisk began to free fall to the ground , and Chara almost ran into the onslaught of magic in order to catch her. Orange magic encapsulated Frisk though and with a gentle wave of his hand, Papyrus brought Frisk over to the small corner where the monsters sat in refuge. 

“It's OK Chara ! I got her!” Papyrus said. 

Chara turned her attention back to Gaster. He looked even moreso like a mess, as his form had once again distorted to something different. Though recognizable , he was a completely different shape. Chara had always been a pacifist so she began to do what she knew best .   
Spare.   
Spare.   
Spare.  
He screamed in rage, and kept on trying to talk her out of her current actions. He kept either telling her to strike him, or let him win. But Chara was determined.  
Spare.   
Spare.   
Spare.   
A bright light overtook the room, and Chara almost felt her soul shatter. It had cracks from all the damage that it had received, but it remained strong. Determined. Another light overtook the room, but yielded less pain. Gaster stood there, his form had finally went back to the original one that Chara associated with him. 

“Greetings Chara.” He spoke , a tone full of sorrow and relief. He smudge bright cyan and orange tears that made way out of his sockets. “I apologize for all that I have put you through,” he spoke once more his voice became more shaky as the emotion that was physically apparent made its way through his entire being. “I know this is a lot. I have so much to say that it all is jumble. After I died in the core explosion, I experienced life in the void. Although I was trapped there, I could control myself,” he sighed. “Undyne though with good intentions collected my dust, and injected me with determination. Though I often ponder where she might have gather such material , I strongly believe it was samples collected from you”he rubbed his chin. “Anyways to get back on topic, I became infused with a temmie doll that she had in the lab for some reason. Undyne was never one to have a backbone, so I think that a group of temmie's bullied her into buying it in order to pay for colleg.” Gaster wasn't very good at staying on track. “ I lacked emotions in that form without my soul, at first I only wanted to figure out a way to see my sons again. But over time that grew into darker thoughts alongside the odd speaking pattern.” He chuckled. “I have to thank you though Chara, you helped my sons in so many ways that you will never realize. I feel bad, but I will most likely shortly revert back to my prior form, so can you continue to good to him? I know my son is lazy, but he really likes you and has for a long time.” Chara was put on the spot with Gaster's question luckily he seemed to really want to get some things out of the way so he continued talking. “Whatever your answer might be, there is something dire that I should attend to before any of that happens. It is time for monsters to see the surface again.”

With another blinding light and a slip into darkness, the barrier was broken. 

“Chara” 

“chara”

“Please wake up” It was all just a dream. 

“Hey punk tell us the next time you wanna take a nap!” Alphys demanded upon seeing Chara's rousing face. 

“yeah . you almost made Sans cry like a baby” Papyrus said in a joking manner as he helped Chara to her feet. 

“WHAT!!!NO I DIDN'T . I JUST CAUGHT SOMETHING IN MY EYES!” Sans denied as he tried to preserve his tough look in front of Frisk. 

“what did you catch?” Papyrus asked. Sans was crying at the moment , cyan eyes spilling out of his sockets . 

“TEARS!” He said louder than usual and began to sob on Frisk for support. Frisk began to pat him on the back, and looked up at Chara with concern on her face. The group of monsters continued to conjugate amongst themselves. The topic of the barrier was brought up. 

“Is it really broken?” Chara asked , although she was happy for her monster friends and family , she would be lying if she said that there was no hesitance within her about returning to the surface. 

“Yeah it is. Although it wasn't really our goal, I suppose that we should be grateful that it is one less burden to worry about.” Toriel spoke. All the monsters seemed to agree with her in that moment. 

“ do you wanna go back up there?” Papyrus asked. Although she felt embarrassed about being called out by his father on their relationship, it was undeniable that they shared a special bond. Papyrus was always one of the first to worry about her. 

“I guess if I have you guys it will be alright.” 

“Well let's see the sun.” Alphys cheered.

“I am going to capture it on camera for all of the underground to see!” Napstation began to toy with his camera. 

“ I am going to watch all the anime.” Undyne quietly said. 

“QUEEN TORIEL, DO YOU THINK THAT I COULD JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD?” it was amazing that the question remained unasked for so long, but Sans must've finally realized that he was in the presence of the queen herself.

“We won't really need a royal guard anymore I am afraid.” 

“Don't worry , you and punkin can train with me!” Alphys offered to which Sans eagerly accepted. Toriel finally remembered that this was the first time that she was seeing Frisk since she was a baby. While Toriel and Asgore concerned themselves with Frisk, Undyne scooted up next to Chara and Papyrus. 

“Do you think that Asgore and Toriel have a chance of getting back together?” 

“Yes, Asgore was really sad that Toriel never responded to his letters, I don't think that the relationship will mend super quickly though.” Without too much further ado, the monsters were the first to see the sun in a few decades.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I think that there is a lot that could be said. Firstly I am going to write an epilogue where I really cement any relationships I have tagged. I went kind of over the deadline with when I wanted this done ( by like a month) I am starting college in a few days, so I really won't have the time to do updates like I did with this. I am also not a fan of dragging things on for too long, and I am somewhat out of ideas for keeping this particular idea going. I really got to thank you all for sticking with this trash for so long. Initially this was a vent thing for some things that I held onto for a very long time, mix with my love for the Underswap au. Once again thank you, and have a good day.


	54. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Read title

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh , so sorry that this is out so late. I started college and I can already tell my life is going to become utter hell. Studying and cramming for several test already, but I felt guilty not finishing this , especially when the chapter was already half way written. Sorry if this is garbage.

It had been a while since the barrier was destroyed. Things had become so different, than the life that Chara had grown use to.

“Y'know he would understand right? He loved you, he still loves you.” Chara sat there in the underground laying in a pile of buttercups planted to honor the humans who had gone before her.

“No. I am a demon. He doesn't need that at the moment, I can't even feel anything in this stupid body.” A temmie sat next to her, although most monsters where eager to leave and see what the surface had to offer , Gaster, or Temmie as he often referred to himself now refused. He was scared to hurt those that he loved, although he would never openly state that , instead choosing to believe and say that Papyrus would hate him for attempting to hurt Chara and the others in the past.

“You know that isn't true-oh” a beeping sound coming from her wrist interrupted her protest. “I am sorry, but I have to go pick up Sans and Frisk, I'll come see you later.”

“Never return. Or I'll tell Frisk the truth.” Temmie threatened her , his face shifted to something darker.

“ I didn't know that you like mail” Chara was unfazed though.

“You know that I will do it!” he screeched at her like the tiny demon that he was. Perhaps she would be a little more effected if it were actually Gaster at that moment, but for the time she chuckled at him.

“I think that you would've done so already if you had meant it.” she said as she exited the barrier into sweet sunset.

“its thyme to go, are you bready?” after they had come to the surface to the surface Papyrus and Sans experimented with a lot of food. Oddly enough Sans did not really like Italian food, so doing what older siblings did best he got super invested into Pizzas, Pastas, and Breadsticks. Currently right now Papyrus wore an flour covered apron with the words: 'Let's taco bout it!' printed on, over his usual orange sweater and cargo pants.

“Yes, let's get going you bonehead” Approaching him with a affectionate flick to where his nose would be if he weren't a skeleton. With a sneeze flour erupted from the nostril, causing Chara to toss him a curious look. “You certainly made a mess”.

“you nose it!” in less than a second Chara found herself sitting in the violet car that Sans had insisted on when Papyrus earned enough human currency Humming as she leaned back and allowed Papyrus to drive to their location, she reflected on her previous conversation. Though she knew that Papyrus could be intense to those that he deemed a threat to his loved ones, he could also be persuaded. Undyne , not long after being freed confessed to Chara about her experiments including the one that had created Temmie. She thought that if she could work with Temmie she might be able to return them to normal since she had more access to the traits of the humans. “what's on your mind?” he questioned her, sparing her a glance when it was safe to do so.

“Nothing much...” Papyrus gave her a skeptical look. He knew she was lying, but she was at a loss on how to broach the subject.

' _Hey you know that monster who almost took mine and Frisk's soul, and broke the barrier? Well he is your long dead father '_

Surely it wouldn't go over well. “i know something is up with you honey, it's fine if you don't want to tell me now, but you would feel better if you did.”

“I promise I will tell you what's up. It's nothing urgent, but it is kind of important. I just...want to bring it up the right way.” Chara attempted to explain her hesitance with Papyrus. Luckily Papyrus always was a rather patient monster. If his girlfriend gave her his word, than it was fine with him.

“alright.” With that conversation ended a new one started up. “did you get any phone calls today regarding Frisk and Sans?” he asked as he piloted his vehicle on the main road. Although it wasn't any extraordinary New New Home was a pleasant mash up of Ebott city and the better parts of the underground. Apparently the country had overthrown their horrible dictatorship, and reformed their government leading to more equality to the people. Chara only had been a child who had to focus on surviving, she had not known about the state that her country of origin was in when she was younger. Since she had grown up with the monsters and had a firm grasp of their customs, traditions, and values she was quickly accepted as the temporary human ambassador of the monsters. It only helped that she was also the adopted daughter of the royal couple.

“No. The last time I got one was when those girls tried to bully Sans into leaving Frisk. Frisk apparently chased them with a stick before pulling out a candy pop ring and declaring herself and Sans wedded. When is the last time you got called?”

“when Sans tried to make it rain tacos during lunch.” Although it might be seen as somewhat odd, since they came to the surface Asgore kind of took over as a figure head, while Toriel traveled the world meeting with people to institute monster rights in other regions. Papyrus and Chara stepped up to take care of Sans and Frisk , and Asriel attended a university in a scholarship type deal. He was going to become a politician or something in the future, and implement monster rights in the government. Overall things weren't going bad all things considered.

“Wasn't that last week?” Although Sans and Frisk were not troublesome on their own, the high sugar diets that the school provided to its students was not the best for either of them. Although they had supplied them with a handcrafted lunch , they often were good at negotiating trading juice boxes for chocolate milk and the like.

“yeah, so was the wedding right?” with a nod they confirmed the fact that it was rather quiet this time around. Maybe the lunch conundrum had finally been resolved. Papyrus parked the car , and swiftly made his way to Chara's side. One could say what they wanted about Papyrus's work ethic , but he was always a perfect gentleman. Making their way inside the building they collected Sans and Frisk. Frisk as always maintained a tight hold on Sans's gloved hand, delivering a harsh glare to some monster girls that probably tried to break them up. Although Chara did not know much about monster and their societal standards it appeared that Sans was apparently very attractive. Sans held her single hand in two and snuggled up to his younger bond mate. Proudly he wore another candy pop ring.

“LOOK PAPPY , WE GOT MARRIED AGAIN!” he screeched upon seeing his older brother. The teacher delivered the usually stress look.

“Have a nice day.” she carefully watched to see that Sans and Frisk went to their respective guardian before turning back to her other pupils. She looked disheveled and Chara was frankly surprised that they had not received a call that day. She would need to interrogate the two to see what exactly was going on.

“CAN WE GO SEE AUNT UNDYNE AND ALPHYS? WE WANT TO ANNOUNCE OUR ENGAGEMENT. “ Sans questioned.

“Only if you tell me how your day was.” She missed the looked that Frisk shot Sans, but luckily Papyrus caught it as he checked his back mirror.

“IT … IT WAS GOOD! THE TEACHER SAID WE DID GOOD ON OUR TEST TODAY.” Sans said.

“Oh really let me see.” Chara turned around to receive the test. The children dug through their bags pulling out the folder and handing it forward. Chara was pleased to see marks in the nineties.

“what else is going on, i saw that look you two exchanged.” Papyrus asked.

“NOTHING . NOTHING ELSE HAPPENED.” Sans nervously said, his eyes flickered down to the mats of the car.

“your eyes change when you lie.” Papyrus stated in a rather flat tone. They were now on route back to the Dreamurr household.

“ _He means it . Nothing went on_.” Frisk spoke up. Although she had grown more talkative since meeting Sans, she only really spoke to him. This was a sign that something was amidst.

“Now you spoke, and you don't really do that Frisk what happened at school today?” Chara asked. She grew more and more concerned about receiving a phone call. Although it couldn't affect her much, it could bring either Asgore or Toriel home in order to parent their child, and they were doing some really important stuff at the moment that only the leaders of the monsters could do.

“ _Ugh, fine. Some girl tried to propose to Sans today. He is mine, and I am his. So I pulled my soul out to show her._ ” The car went silent for a few moments.

“You did what?” Chara exclaimed. “Do you know how dangerous that is, you could shatter both of your souls.”

“ _You flaunt yours and Papyrus's bond around like its no big deal. Besides she couldn't really do anything to me if she tried. One of the weakest enemies_.” Frisk slightly smirked as she finished her statement. Although she had always been a silent child, when she spoke there was always a sort of deviousness present. Chara proceeded to talk to her sister about the dangers of what she did, but was silent when the phone rang. Her stomach plummeted , but she was quickly relived to find that it was Asgore calling her.

“Hello my child “ he greeted her.

“Hey dad.” she casually greeted him. The nerves from her latest confrontation still sat within her.

“I have some important news to tell you, but could you keep it a secret from Frisk and the others.” Asgore asked his oldest daughter. Chara could hear a excited undertone in his speech and naturally became quite curious about what her father had to say.

“Of course.” Chara said.

“We're coming home.” Asgore said. There seemed like there was supposed to be a 'but' there, but the silence dragged on, and Chara didn't want to give the wrong impression.

“Really. That's-” Chara was cut off.

“But there is more , me and your mother , we are getting back together. I cannot say whether or not this will work out, and I don't want to get Frisk excited over nothing, but I felt it was best to tell you and Asriel” Asgore said. Although he was quite angry at Toriel for disregarding all of his letters to her, he could never be angry at her for too long. With everything working out so well, it must have been only natural for the relationship to med.

“I understand. Is there anything else?” Chara felt perhaps there might have been another clause. Although Asgore could be a bit scattered brained, he would always let his children know about anything important.

“No , I will see you soon my child. “ He said.

“Bye dad love you!” Chara responded before disconnecting the call.

` “ _What was that about_ ?” Frisk asked, hoping to redirect the heat from her prior transgression to this new topic of interest.

“Dad heard about your soul incident.” And the argument resumed.


End file.
